By Nwabueze Okonkwo

Onitsha — Human rights lawyer and activist, Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has strongly criticized Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, over his recent remarks discouraging residents from engaging in self-defence against recurring attacks by armed herdsmen.

In a strongly worded press statement titled “The Tragedy of Silence in the Face of Slaughter: A Response to Gov. Alia’s Pronouncement,” Ejiofor condemned the governor’s position as a betrayal of the people he was elected to protect.

“It is distressing and disheartening to hear that Governor Alia — a former Reverend Father — would openly discourage the very people he swore to protect from defending themselves against bloodthirsty incursions,” Ejiofor said.

The lawyer described Alia’s stance as not only a dereliction of duty but a complete disregard for the collective agony of the Benue people, who have suffered immensely from ongoing violent invasions.

According to him, “Governor Alia’s posture once again affirms what many have long feared: that he remains tragically unsuited for the brutal realities of political leadership. His training as a cleric may have prepared him for the pulpit, but not for the urgent, often harsh demands of governance in a state under siege.”

Ejiofor questioned how many more lives would be lost before the governor acknowledged that prayer without action amounts to abdication of responsibility.

He further noted that while prominent Nigerians — including former and serving security chiefs — have supported the right to self-defence as a legitimate survival strategy, it was “shameful” for a governor of a frontline state to advocate “docility in the face of death.”

“This is not leadership — it is surrender,” he declared.

Calling on the Benue State House of Assembly to act, Ejiofor said that if the Tinubu-led Federal Government lacked the moral and political courage to declare a state of emergency in Benue, then the responsibility to protect the people now lies with the state legislature.

“If Governor Alia has lost touch with the reality of his people’s suffering — if he has chosen to speak peace where there is no peace — then it is incumbent on the state House of Assembly to activate the relevant constitutional mechanisms and return him to the pulpit, where idealism, not realism, reigns supreme,” he said.

Ejiofor concluded with a somber reflection: “This is not just about politics. This is about lives — about families wiped out, farmlands razed, and entire communities living in fear within their ancestral homes. Any leader who cannot stand between his people and the sword is simply not fit to sit on the throne.”

“May God deliver Benue State from the paralysing grip of a governor who has not only lost the will to lead, but the conscience to care,” he added.