The Benue Peoples Forum (BPF), has attributed the state’s backwardness on mutual suspicion among its ethnic groups.

Its National President, Mr Samuel Akough, who stated this on Tuesday in Makurdi, during the inaugural meeting of the forum, said that the distrust among the major tribes had frustrated efforts to unite toward attaining set goals.

“Virtually all the ethnic nationalities in the state prefer to stand alone because they are suspicious of one another.

“Politicians also worsen these differences by pitting one tribe against the other to achieve selfish motives,” he said.

Akough advised ethnic groups to set aside tribal differences and work together toward a better Benue, pointing out that all groups would gain if they worked together.

He said that the forum was conceived to serve as a platform where Benue people could come together and reason as a people, regardless of their tribal, religious and political differences.

“Our goal is to bring all the ethnic groups together to form a cohesive force that will initiate and execute ideas and projects that will improve the living conditions of the people.

“We want the people to understand that poverty and misery does not discriminate on the basis of tribe. They must understand that we must bury our differences otherwise our differences will bury us,” he said.

Mr Terlumun Utev, chairman of the occasion, who spoke in the same vein, lamented that tribal varieties that should be an asset had continued to keep the people apart.

“The disunity among the tribes in Benue has kept us all backward. We have a lot to gain if we all support each other and make sacrifices toward a better life for all,” he said.

Utev urged Benue people to unite and build a better state they would be proud to call their own so that unborn generations would inherit a developed state.

The Guest Speaker, Mr Cephas Kangeh, who spoke on the topic: ”Using Politics as a Catalyst for the Empowerment of Benue People”, sued for the deepening of democracy by allowing participatory politics.

“We need to deepen our democracy so that it will be a catalyst for the empowerment of our youths,” he said.

He called on political actors to promote political freedom by reducing the involvement of money in politics, and challenged the electorate to demand accountability from their representatives so as to keep them on their toes.

Mr Richard Gbawuan, Secretary, Medical and Health Workers Union, Benue chapter, in a good message, urged the state government to construct dams across the state so as to encourage farmers to venture into irrigation farming.

“All the 23 Local Government Areas in the state have rivers and streams which will make the construction of dams very easy,” he said. (NAN)

– Apr. 3, 2018 @ 13:03 GMT