JUST IN: Benue women protest youth arrests, police urge calm

Some women from Agan community, a few kilometres from Makurdi, the capital city of Benue State, on Friday turned out in numbers to protest against what they termed the indiscriminate arrest of their children in the area.

 

The protesters said they were aggrieved by the manner in which security operatives in the state were arresting their children indiscriminately.
One of the protesters, who simply identified herself as Nguyan, said that there had been indiscriminate arrests of youths in the area in recent times.

 

Nguyan said, “Many of our children had been arrested in the past few days, security men would just swoop on this community arresting our youths.”

 

Recall that two indigenes of Kano, who were in transit to the eastern part of the country, were recently killed by some youths in Agan community.

 

The state governor, Hyacinth Alia, in a swift response to the killing of the Kano indigenes through his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, said that five people had been arrested by the police.

 

Meanwhile, the Benue State Police Command, while reacting to the protest on Friday, advised against any protest which it said was capable of distracting its ‘clearing operations’ ongoing across the state.

 

In a statement issued by the spokesperson for the State Command, DSP Udeme Edet, the command called on members of the public to provide the command with useful information that would help in its operation.

 

The statement, titled ‘Police Warn Against Distractions In Form Of Protest’, read in part, “The Benue State Police command is currently carrying out operations across the state to clamp down on criminals and ensure the safety of lives and property.

 

“These operations are gradually yielding results as evident in the arrest of suspects and destruction of criminal hideouts around Apa, Guma, Gwer-West, Sankera axis, and other areas.

 

“As part of support for operatives in the field, members of the public are requested to avail the police with useful information rather than distract the police’s ongoing focused clearance operations with any form of protest.

 

“Assembling people for protests at this time is distracting the police from engaging criminals as logistic attention will shift to the protection of protesters, thereby creating room for criminality to continue thriving. Also, such an assembly could be hijacked by hoodlums to perpetrate mayhem.”

 

The command, which said it was in the last lap of the exercise, expressed its commitment to its clearance operation, which it said would create lasting peace in the state.

 

The command explained that the ongoing operations were in synergy with all sister security agencies in the state and with the support of the state government and other security stakeholders within and outside the state.

 

The PPRO, however, warned members of the public to desist from assembling themselves to join any form of protest that is capable of endangering lives and causing unnecessary distractions to the ongoing operations.

 

“The good people of Benue State are encouraged to support all police operations in their communities as security is everybody’s responsibility,” the statement concluded.

 

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