Follow Us on Google
From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
As part of measures to address insecurity and bring sanity to the state, Benue State government has commenced the dismantling of illegal checkpoints across the state.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Security and Internal Affairs, Chief Joseph Har, PSP, disclosed this to newsmen in Makurdi on Sunday.
Har queried why a checkpoint comprising of members of the Military, Police, NSCDC, Correction Service, Immigration will be manned on the Federal Road and they are not members of Operation ZENDA, the state joint task force.
He said inquiries reveal that those manning the checkpoints were those deployed to protect the Correction Facility.
He ordered that such illegal checkpoints be dismantled warning perpetrators to desist forthwith.
The exercise was carried out on Saturday, March 9, 2024.
Chief Har who was accompanied by the Principal Special Assistant on Security and Internal Affairs, Hon Godwin Malu, among other officers, explained that there are dangers in having illicit checkpoints across the state.
According to him, some of the dangers include painting the image of the state in bad light as it tells one that you are entering an insecure environment especially when you drive all the way from Abuja, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu state with skeletal checkpoint and are greeted with a huge proliferation of checkpoints in Benue state.
He also stated that it was discovered that the personnel divide themselves to have more checkpoints and get more spoils but do not taking cognizance of the danger of having one armed personnel and a camp boy operating in an era where criminals are looking for weapons to harvest.
“They offer Tshirts and other regalia to the camp boys to wear and open the barrier for them thereby exposing these boys to using same regalia elsewhere to pose as Law Enforcement Agents.”
Chief Har advised other LEAs operating illicit checkpoints to dismantle them immediately as evidenced in the attached pictures
