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From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Military High Command has vowed to track down perpetrators of last Monday’s attacks on some communities in Guma, Tarka and Logo Local Government Areas of Benue State in which 28 people were reportedly killed.
Chief of Defence, Training and Operations, Defence Headquarters, Maj. Gen. Adeyemi Yekini, stated this when he led a high-powered military delegation to pay an on-the-spot visit to the scene of the recent attacks in Tyotugh community of Tarka LGA and Tse-Semaka in Guma LGA both in Benue State.
“I’m here on the authority of the Chief of Defence Staff. He directed a team led by me to come here and find out what happened. I understand that 15 people or thereabout were killed in this community (Tyotugh). But as to who and who is responsible is not too clear to me.
“But whichever group is responsible will be tracked down and neutralised accordingly. The Chief of Defence Staff has given me the directive, and I have passed the directive to the Commander of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) to find those who were responsible for the attack, track them down and bring them to justice – swift, fast justice. That’s why I’m here.” General Yekini who visited the scenes of recent attacks in Tyotugh community of Tarka LGA as well as Tse-Semaka in Guma LGA in company with the OPWS Force Commander, Maj. Gen. Kevin Aligbe as well as the Security Adviser to Governor Samuel Ortom, Lt. Col. Paul Hemba (rtd) noted that the Defence Headquarters is exploring all options to ensure that masterminds of the dastardly act were soon brought to justice.
“All options are open. Our intelligence unit is working on it. But judging from my knowledge and working experience here, as I have said, I worked here for three good years, and I can speak from experience. But like I said, our intelligence unit is working on it to unmask those who were responsible for the attack. And we will go after them decisively.
“To a large extent, we can say that there’s relative peace in Benue. Of course, there’s still occasional attacks by bandits and all that, but when you look at the overall security situation in Benue, one can say there’s relative peace in the state. However, there’s still a need for improvement.
“Troops are restrategising; they’re reviewing their tactics and their deployments, and they are taking all other measures that I cannot mention here to ensure that we put a permanent end to this kind of killing.
“Some few criminals cannot hold Nigerians to ransom. The instruction is clear: track them down and kill them. The President has made it clear that anybody found with weapons should be killed and that instruction has been passed to me and I have passed same to the operations commanders to unmask these people and bring them to swift justice,” Yekini said.
The Chief of Defence Training and Operations also met with and apologised to members of the community, and promised that such would not be allowed to happen again.
Responding, the District Head of Shitile, Chief Sebastine Hule, thanked the military delegation for finding time to visit his community, disclosing that with the assurance given to them, his people who had before now run away from their ancestral homes could now return and continue with their normal lives.
