Dickson Berates Tinubu Over Benue Killings

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Seriake Dickson, senator representing Bayelsa west, has berated President Bola Tinubu for paying a visit to Benue five days after over 200 people were killed on June 14.

Dickson stated that President Tinubu should have visited the state earlier to show leadership and empathy, after the gruesome attacks by suspected herdsmen in Yelewata and Daudu communities in LGA.

Dickson, while speaking in an interview on Arise News Thursday morning stated that the trip of the president fell short of expectations and did not reflect the scale of the tragedy.

“While it’s commendable that President Tinubu visited Benue state, albeit he could have gone earlier than he did. The decisions taken and declarations made were not as forceful as some would have wanted,” he said.

The former Bayelsa State governor also frowned at the characterisation of the killings as “communal disputes”, saying that what has been happening in Benue and other states like Plateau is above local disputes and represents a “systematic campaign of terror”.

“What has been going on in Benue, Plateau, and in some other places is actually a collective assault. It’s an assault on a collective psyche of Nigerians and as human beings,” the lawmaker said.

“For example, the way some of us look at this is what has been going on there is not an issue of reconciliation — it’s an issue of pure criminality that is almost at a genocidal level.

“And people talk about a certain route — there could be minor elements of that — but you can’t equate killing a cow with slaughtering hundreds of human beings.”

Speaking on a viral image of a woman whose child’s arm had been severed in the attack, Dickson stated that the national response is not enough and disconnected from the realities of the affected communities.

“There’s one picture that is very poignant. I don’t know if you have seen it — the picture of the lady who was in the hospital with a child whose arm had been severed and who looked away, you know, in protest about the actions of government,” he said.

“It’s good that officials of the government went, I mean, the security chiefs were there. I spoke with the governor myself, and I know that a lot of security people are there and things are happening. But are they far-reaching enough, clearly after the fact?”

He cautioned that the scale and sophistication of the attackers goes beyond something far more dangerous than local banditry.

“Look, I mean, we’re not talking about preventing. We’re talking about 200. Next time you will hear 300,” he said.

“I think the government is actually without a solution, as it is now. And I’m not talking of this government alone. The Nigerian state appears unprepared for this sort of violence people are unleashing on Nigerians.

“These are not just criminals. These are mercenaries, commando units of foreign armies trained elsewhere. They are well equipped, well armed, well prepared tactically, and our system is completely unprepared for that.”

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