Women from the Agan community, Benue State, on Friday turned out in numbers to protest against what they termed the indiscriminate arrest of their children in the area.
The protesters stated that they were aggrieved by the manner in which security operatives in the state were arresting their children indiscriminately.
One of the aggrieved demonstrators, who simply identified herself as Nguyan, said that there had been indiscriminate arrests of youths in the area in recent times.
Nguyan said, “Many of our children had been arrested in the past few days; security men would just swoop on this community, arresting our youths.”
Recall that two indigenes of Kano, who were travelling to the eastern part of the country, were recently killed by some youths in the Agan community.
The state governor, Hyacinth Alia, in a swift response to the murder of the Kano indigenes through his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, stated that five people had been arrested by the police.
While reacting to the protest on Friday, the Benue State Police Command advised against any protest, which it said was capable of distracting its ‘clearing operations’ ongoing across the state.
In a statement issued by the spokesperson for the State Command, DSP Udeme Edet, the command urged members of the public to provide the command with useful information that would help in its operation.
The statement, titled ‘Police Warn Against Distractions In Form Of Protest’, read in part, “The Benue State Police Command is currently carrying out operations across the state to clamp down on criminals and ensure the safety of lives and property.
“These operations are gradually yielding results, as evident in the arrest of suspects and destruction of criminal hideouts around the Apa, Guma, Gwer-West, and Sankera axes and other areas.
“As part of support for operatives in the field, members of the public are requested to avail the police with useful information rather than distract the police’s ongoing focused clearance operations with any form of protest.
“Assembling people for protests at this time is distracting the police from engaging criminals, as logistic attention will shift to the protection of protesters, thereby creating room for criminality to continue thriving. Also, such an assembly could be hijacked by hoodlums to perpetrate mayhem.”
The leadership, which stated that it was nearing the end of the exercise, reaffirmed its commitment to the clearance operation, which it claimed will bring enduring peace to the state.
The command explained that the current operations were carried out in collaboration with all sister security agencies in the state, as well as with the cooperation of the state government and other security stakeholders both inside and outside the state.
However, the PPRO cautioned members of the public not to gather to participate in any sort of demonstration that could jeopardise lives and cause unnecessary distractions to ongoing operations.
“The good people of Benue State are encouraged to support all police operations in their communities, as security is everybody’s responsibility,” the statement concluded.
