From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Benue State Government has said that the state ‘will always be’ the target of armed bandits and insurgents.
Governor Samuel Ortom’s Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, stated this in a telephone chat with newsmen on Saturday against the backdrop of reports that a Boko Haram group is gathering in a forest at the Benue/Nasarawa border.
‘Their target will always be Benue State even as they are now assembling in Nasarawa State,’ the government spokesman said.
Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule had a few days ago raised alarm over the influx of herdsmen into Nasarawa.
A video of persons suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents in the forests of Nasarawa has flooded social media, a development which had raised tensions in Benue to its south.
Reacting to the development, Akase disclosed that the state security council would be meeting next week on the issue of the influx of armed herders into the state.
He recalled that Governor Ortom had alerted the country about the agenda of armed bandits, adding that ‘whether they are herdsmen or Boko Haram, the target is the same – to take over the land.’
Akase noted that the State Government had been proactive on the issue and would continue to sustain its collaboration and support to security agencies to guarantee the safety of the people.
