Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia has attributed the recent killings in the state to foreign elements speaking unfamiliar languages.

In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Alia said residents have reported that the attackers speak dialects not associated with local communities.

Attackers Not Nigerian?
Alia claimed that the attackers do not bear the Nigerian look and speak a different dialect of Hausa and Fulani.

He said some locals who understand the language have given it names, and the attackers claim to be Malians, not Nigerians.

New Threat
The governor described the current situation as a more dangerous threat than the traditional clashes with herders previously seen in the region. He said the attacks appear methodically carried out and are not random acts of violence.

Intelligence Gathering
Alia mentioned that intelligence gathered points to the existence of terrorist enclaves in Taraba and Nasarawa states, as well as in neighboring parts of Cameroon. He noted that some local government areas in Benue share borders with Cameroon, and those borders are quite porous.