Benue governor orders fresh recruitment of livestock guards, vigilante

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has directed the recruitment of more personnel of the Livestock Guards and Vigilante to help provide intelligence for conventional security agencies.

Governor Ortom who gave the directive today at Agboughul community of Makurdi Local Government Area where armed herdsmen killed three persons last night said the move had become necessary in the face of renewed attacks on innocent people of the state by rampaging herder militia.

He personnel of the Community Policing who have already been recruited from the 23 local government areas of the state would also begin operations soon.

He directed the Special Adviser on Security Matters to liaise with his Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs counterpart and the Permanent Secretary Bureau of Internal Affairs to effect the recruitment of more Livestock Guards and Vigilante personnel.

In a related development, Governor Ortom, accompanied by the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mukadas Mohammed and top government appointees today visited an old facility of Nigeria Correction Service (formerly known as Prisons Service) in Wadata, Makurdi Local Government Area.

The Governor told journalists shortly after the inspection that government suspected some criminal elements might be hiding within the facility and directed that all its inhabitants be profiled for necessary surveillance.