Bothered by the increasing wave of attacks on Benue farmers by suspected Fulani herdsmen, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG, in charge of Operations, at the Force Headquarters, Mr. Micheal Zuokumor, yesterday, March 14, 2014 declared that the Police would apply minimal force to dislodge the herdsmen from the state.
He said the Police has the wherewithal to combat the ongoing invasion of parts of the state assuring that the matter would be addressed in the coming days.
Zuokumor spoke at the end of a prolonged meeting he held with select members of the top hierarchy of the force at the Benue state Police command headquarters in Makurdi.
He said, “as I speak with you, more policemen have already been deployed to the state; we have enough men and everything would be done to protect lives and property of the people of Benue state and all Nigerians.
”The country and the police have the wherewithal to combat crime anywhere within the territory of our country. I am in Benue with a high powered team from Force headquarters. I assure you that the issues of insecurity in Benue can and would be addressed immediately.
”We are prepared and I can assure you that we have the capacity to address all the issues that are threatening law and order in the entire state.
”We have mobilized fully and I can assure you that normalcy will definitely return to the troubled spots in the state becaue no one is allowed to carry fire arms against fellow citizens and that would not be allowed to continue,” he added.
While expressing concern about some problem areas in the state which he said included iUkum, Logo, Guma, Agatu and other local government areas, some of which Zuokumor noted were caused by the herders, he assured that all the spotted areas would be fully policed in order to restore normalcy.
”We want to save the lives of natives and the invaders but where there is need for force, minimum force would be used to dislodge the invaders. I therefore call for the cooperation and partnership of the press and the people so that the police can succeed. If there are killings going on, the killings would be stopped. There is the will to do it on our part and I can assure that we will do it.” he added.
