Following continued herdsmen attacks on Benue communities by Fulani herdsmen, the Benue State Government on Thursday announced the setting up of the State’s community security outfit.
It is named “Community Volunteer Guards” and was given the mandate to curb the attacks henceforth.
The Guards replaces the vigilante guards whose bill was enacted by the Benue State House of Assembly in the year 2000 with same mandate of curbing crime in the state.
In a communique after an expanded emergency stakeholders meeting at the New Banquet Hall of Benue People’s House Makurdi, the State Governor, Samuel Ortom said that the decision to revive the community volunteer guards became imperative owing to the volume of attacks being recorded in the state in recent times.
The Governor said that the volunteer guards will work closely with conventional security agencies.
He emphasized that the outfit was in no way going to work at cross purposes with conventional agencies operating in the state.
Ortom commended officers of Nigerian army, the Air Force, the Nigerian Navy, the Police as well as sister security agencies for their efforts over the years in halting the attacks noting that they were being over -stretched due to shortage of personnel hence, the collective resolve by Benue Stakeholders to revive its security outfit.
The governor disclosed that he was personally going to coordinate activities of the outfit at the state level along side his Deputy Engineer Benson Abounu, Secretary to the Benue State Government professor Anthony Ajoho, adding that representatives from the Department of State Services (DSS), that of the police as well as traditional rulers will be part of the coordination of the outfit.
Ortom informed further thatpersonnel for the new Guards would be recruited at the ward level with each council ward in the state producing ten of the volunteers.
On the criteria for recruitment, the governor said community Chiefs up to the tax collectors level were to be solely responsible for the process, adding that those to be recruited into the Guards are to fall within the ages of 18 to 49 years, stressing that such persons may have lived in such community for a period of not less than 6 months without questionable characters.
He further said that those to be recruited must also be persons with steady incomes including farming and must not also have criminal records of having being convicted of any crime be it in the state or anywhere.
These measures, he said were to avoid the temptation of such persons returning to their old ways of criminality in connivance with bad elements in their communities.
The Governor disclosed that licensed weapons would be acquired for the volunteer guards along side other logistics to enable them carry out their mandate more effectively.
He then charged them not to resort to conventional security agencies in cases of emergency attacks but respond rapidly in line with their rules of engagement, warning however that on no account should they abuse the trust given to them by stakeholders otherwise they would be severely sanctioned.
Earlier, the three social cultural organizations in the state namely the Mzough u Tiv, the Opiatoha K ‘ Idoma and the Ominyi Igede had all passed a vote of confidence on governor Ortom and urged him never to repeal the Anti-Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law in force in he state. Local government Chairmen, Divisional Police Officers, Directors of DSS as well as stakeholders in all the local government are to coordinate activities of the outfit.
