Governor Samuel Ortom on Monday proscribed Vigilante groups illegally operating in the state and directed that anyone seen wearing the groups’ uniforms should be arrested and prosecuted. The proscription takes immediate effect.
The Governor said the Benue State Volunteer Guards which law was enacted in the year 2000 and was recently adopted for full enforcement by the state security council and other stakeholders would be constituted.
Governor Ortom briefed journalists at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi shortly after a meeting he held with the State Commissioner of Police, State Director, Department of State Security Service, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Special Adviser on Security Matters, as well as Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Internal Affairs. Some members of the disbanded Benue State Vigilante Group were also present at the meeting.
Benue State Volunteer Guards personnel who are to be recruited from kindred levels, according to the Governor, are mandated by law, to complement conventional security agencies.
Governor Ortom who enjoined members of the disbanded Vigilante interested in joining the Community Volunteer Guards to go to their kindreds to be properly enrolled, directed his Senior Special Assistant on Security, Simon Iwar to oversee the new formation with the active supervision of Security Adviser.
Benue State Community Volunteer Guards is an offshoot of the law to provide for the establishment of community volunteer guards (Vigilante) and for purposes connected therewith, 2000.
