Amid the growing insecurity in Benue State that has led to the loss of lives, the member representing Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, Terseer Ugbor, has said that communities in the state will have to come up with ways to defend themselves against their attackers
Ugbor stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
He said that Benue had for a long time not had a local security outfit that could serve as a defence mechanism against such attacks.
“You see, the DG of the DSS publicly said communities will have to come up with self-defence mechanisms. Communities will have to defend themselves. Communities will have to come up with vigilantes and other systems where you can protect your communities,” the lawmaker said.
“This is what Benue needs to do. For a long time, as I said, Benue did not have a militia. Benue has had several attempts to set up a state security apparatus, the former governor, (Samuel) Ortom did that, with the anti-open grazing law.
“Then this government came in and set up their own volunteer guards, ‘Anyam Nyor’. Unfortunately, we’ve not seen much of the impact of ‘Anyam Nyor’ in Benue. So we’ve not been able to set up a good security architecture to protect our communities in Benue. We’ve just not been able to,” he added.
Ugbor noted that the military formations currently in Benue are for peacekeeping rather than for combat.
He, therefore, called on the Nigerian military to go on the offensive to end the killings.
“And let me tell you, the military and the police security forces in Benue are in Benue for peacekeeping. I also went to military school, so I know the mentality behind military operations.
“The military formations in Benue are there for peacekeeping. I interact with them at the grassroots level, and I know their mindset. They’re not there to open fire on any group of people. They’re not there to go all out and open fire on the Fulani, open fire on the Tiv people, or any other tribe in Benue; they are there to maintain the peace,” he said.
“And because of that, when these people come and attack, they attack and they retreat. The security presence is not there, it doesn’t have the mandate to pursue them across state lines and go and attack them in another state.
“That is not the mandate of the security in Benue. But right now, with this situation, the military needs to go on the offensive. If not, this problem will not stop,” Ugbor added.
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