By Tor Vande-Acka
…Police Warn Against Any Form Of Protest
Women from the Agan com-munity in the North Bank area of Makurdi Local Gov-ernment Area (LGA), Benue State, marched to the Makur-di-Lafia federal highway on Friday to protest the ongoing killing of their loved ones.
The women, who blocked the highway were also pro-testing what they described as the arbitrary arrest of their young people, who were al-legedly labelled criminals by security agents for the purpose of arrest.
Meanwhile, the Benue State Command of the Nigeria Police has warned the public not to participate in any form of pro-test, claiming that it would di-vert police attention away from ongoing clearance operations throughout the state.
The Command issued the warning in a statement distrib-uted to journalists in Makurdi on Friday by the Command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Deputy Superinten-dent of Police (DSP) Udeme Edet.
However, one of the protest-ing women, Nguyan Afatyo, told INDEPENDENT that they were being killed by armed herders while the police and other sister agencies arrested their children.
The protester, who likened the situation to rubbing it in their faces, claimed that over 50 of their youth were arrested in one fell swoop, depriving the communities of able-bodied men who could protect them in the event of an accident.
Another source stated that for about four weeks, running women and some breast-feeding mothers in the Agan community have had sleepless nights, pacing the Makurdi-Lafia road from dusk to dawn out of fear of commu-nity attacks.
However, in a statement is-sued by the Benue Police Com-mand, police spokesperson DSP Udeme Edet advised against organising any type of proces-sion that could be hijacked by hoodlums.
According to her, “The Benue State Police Command is currently conducting opera-tions across the state to crack down on criminals and ensure the safety of lives and property.”
These operations are gradu-ally bearing fruit, as evidenced by the arrest of suspects and the destruction of criminal hideouts in Apa, Guma, Gw-er-West, the Sankera axis, and other areas.
“As part of their support for field operatives, members of the public are asked to provide the police with useful infor-mation rather than disrupting the police’s ongoing focused clearance operations through protest.
“Organising people for pro-tests at this time diverts police attention away from dealing with criminals because lo-gistical attention will shift to protester protection, allowing criminality to flourish. Fur-thermore, such gatherings could be hijacked by criminals to cause havoc.
“The command recognises the hardships endured by the good people of Benue state and remains committed to this clearance operation, which will bring lasting peace.
“We are in the final stages of the operation. These police operations are carried out in collaboration with all sister security agencies in the state, with the support of the State Government and other security stakeholders from within and outside the state.
“Members of the public are therefore advised to refrain from gathering to participate in any type of protest that will endanger lives and cause un-necessary distractions to ongo-ing police operations.
“The good people of Benue state are encouraged to support all police operations in their communities, because security is everyone’s responsibility,” the PPRO stated.