Benue killings: Police teargas protesters

The Police in Benue State on Sunday teargassed protesters at the Wurukum Roundabout in Makurdi metropolis of the state.

Our correspondent reports that the protesters had besieged the popular roundabout at about 9:30am in a bid to express their concerns over the killings of over 100 people in Yelewata of Guma LGA, on Saturday.

Earlier, security operatives drawn from different formations on Sunday morning mounted surveillance at strategic places in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

Our correspondent who went around the Makurdi metropolis, observed heavy security presence as early as 7am alongside police Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) stationed at the Wurukum junction.

There were soldiers stationed on the bridge head while police, NDLEA, NSCDC among other security agencies were seen armed with sophisticated weapons.

It was gathered that the presence of the security was meant to avert the protest, but as the gathering continued to gather momentum, the police fired teargas to disperse the crowd around 11am.

Meanwhile, the protesters were not deterred as they were joined by popular social media activist, VeryDarkMan.

The State Police Commissioner, Ifeanyi Enemari, had on arrival at the scene of Wurukum protest appealed to aggrieved youths to shun the protest because security operatives were doing everything to end the attacks which propelled their action.

Emenari said, said: “The Inspector General of Police has taken over the security of Benue State. As I speak to you now the IG has already send Special Forces who are already on ground and more are coming. All the Special Forces are intelligence forces, they will go no matter where the bandits are and get them.

“The ones you see here on ground just arrived last night. The previous sets have been deployed to Naka, Apa, Agatu, Daudu and Yelewata. We are in control of the situation, so I’m assuring all citizens of the State that we are in control. All the security agencies are with us on this. We have already some arrests.

“The Governor have already given us all the necessary support. All the logistics, every support we need and we are going to do it just be patient. What you see happening in Yelewata yesterday is because we have taken over Apa, Gwer West and moving seriously in Agatu. They just want to do something to show that they are in control while they are not and will never be.

“Whatever is paining you is paining us more. We are here to protect lives and property. We have security everywhere now, even in Yelewata there are tactical teams in the bush even before the attack. Give the special forces and tactical teams a room to work. If you prolong your stay here you are giving the enemies more time to plan. We have intelligence reports of their movement and we are blocking them and you will see the end result.”