From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
The Benue state Police command have arrested 21 persons over wanton destruction of properties in Oju Local Government Area of the state.
Parading the suspects at the command headquarters in Makurdi, on Tuesday, the Commissioner of Police, CP Julius Okoro, explained that the suspects were arrested on Sunday morning at the scene of the crime.
He said they were destroying and setting ablaze properties following disagreement on Saturday over where to site a school which a firm promised to build for them.
The Commissioner who spoke through the Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO), SP Catherine Anene, said no life was lost just as peace has been restored in the communities.
Anene said the commissioner has ordered that the suspects be charged to court immediately after interrogation.
The PPRO described the scale of damage done by the suspects as massive, saying no one is allowed to take laws into their hands, assuring that they all will be prosecuted according to law.
She explained that a firm had promise to build a school for the communities but at the point of agreeing on a location where it will be built, they all left for the day without agreement only to wake up the next morning which was on a Sunday morning to see that some youths started destroying properties and had set close to 20 houses ablaze.
She added that when police and some other security agencies got to the location, they found some youths at the scene still wrecking havoc and arrested them.