Plateau lawmkaker alleges ethnic cleansing as Benue monarchs deplore insecurity

Police drum support for community policing in N’East

The member representing Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency of Plateau State in the House of Representatives, Solomon Maren, has alleged ethnic cleansing of his constituents.

He told reporters at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, yesterday, that his position was based on the seeming inaction of security agencies to curtail the wanton killings in his constituency.

Maren said: “We need help from every quarter. The people are helpless. Our people are being killed and slaughtered like chickens on a daily basis. Must everyone be killed before action is taken, and of what essence would that be? It is time for government to act now and fast.”

The lawmaker warned that if nothing is urgently done, the situation might escalate and throw the entire state into chaos. Challenging government to discharge its primary responsibility of securing life and property, Maren stated that it behooved the Inspector General of Police, Chief of Army Staff and other relevant agencies to mobilise more personnel and investigate the root causes with a view to bringing the culprits to book and restoring normalcy in the area.

He also urged government to mandate the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, as well as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to immediately send relief materials to the victims.

THIS is even as the Tiv Area Traditional Council, yesterday, deplored pervasive insecurity in Benue State. The displeasure was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of an emergency meeting of the body held at the Tor Tiv’s palace in Gboko.

The document was signed by the Secretary, Shinyi Tyozua and Chairman, HRH Clement Uganden (Tor Jechira). The Council noted, “the deteriorating security situation in Tivland, in which rogue herdsmen and bandits, have crippled farming, travelling and decent living in border communities, and now occupy large territories.”

The royal fathers, who said they “condemned in very strong terms the incessant brutal and mindless attacks on unarmed innocent farmers and farming communities,” decried the “appalling conditions in which over one million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) continue to live as a result of the crippling insecurity.”

The monarchs appealed to the Federal Government to facilitate return of IDPs to their ancestral homes.

RELATEDLY, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has solicited support for community policing to protect life and property in the North East geopolitical zone.

At a two-day workshop for stakeholders from Borno, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba and Yobe states, which held in Maiduguri, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, explained that the programme was to deepen implementation of the policy approved by the Federal Government in 2020.

Represented by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Zannah Ibrahim, the IGP added that community policing would address dynamics of criminality in the country.

According to him, implementation of the initiative is to mitigate challenges associated with emerging internal security realities. He noted that policing strategies are gradually taking root with people’s acceptance to secure their lives and properties in a strong partnership involving the police and citizens.

In his remarks, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State, represented by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Usman Jidda Shuwa, said community policing remained an effective way to tackle insecurity in the region. He, therefore, urged the police and other security agencies to be proactive to ensure free and fair elections next year.