Barely 48 hours after Benue State Government assented to the amended Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, the Livestock Guard assisted by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, and Men of Operation While Stroke, OPWS, arrested over 250 cows.
The State NSCDC Commandant, Philip Okoh, disclosed this in his office while dressing Exco members of the Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Benue State Council who paid him a familiarization visit.
The State Commandant who enumerated some of the successes of the command in the last six months said his men are working round the clock in collaboration with sister agencies to maintain peace and order in the state.
Dr. Okoh who noted that the command does not arrest cattle explained thus “but we have an Agro Ranger Unit that provides security cover for the Livestock Guard of the Benue State government which enforces the anti-open grazing law.
“As I’m talking to you now, over 250 cattle were arrested by the Livestock Guard on Monday and our men have helped to escort them to safety.
“Last week also, they arrested some cows and our men gave them cover. That of monday, I was told there was exchange of fire for about two hours between our men, assisted by OPWS, and the herders.”
He said the command have been arresting different types of criminals for different types of crimes ranging from 419, illegal possession of fire arms, kidnapping, vandalism, among others.
According to him, while some of the suspects are in cells, others have already been charged to court.
He also said that to ensure their judicial system is well managed, the command through its Peace and Conflict Management Unit, charged with Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, have settled various cases like breach of contract, among others
The Commandant also said they are ensuring that all critical national assets and infrastructures are protected adding that, “As I’m talking to you, we have arrested a lot of vandals of railway Slipperses and there are less cases of vandalism on power units; transformers.
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“For maintaining peace and order, we are still in divisions in various local government in the state to ensure that the right things are done.
“We are expanding by opening new divisions because part of my vision is to ensure that the response time to alerts of criminality is reduced.
In other words, I want to bring security to the door step of every person in Benue and so I have discussed it with the state governor, he is actually supporting.
“I have discussed with the traditional rulers and some members of the national and state assembly and well meaning Benue indigenes to give us accommodation to establish divisions and they are complying.
“As we speak we have already opened two divisions; one in Logo and one in Ogbadibo LGAs. Others are coming up.
“We want to ensure that we have more men on ground to reach out to people to curb crime and ensure peace and order in the state and God is helping us,” he said.
While using the media to do their work with the fear of God, the Commandant also called on the media to always verify information before going to press.
Earlier, the Chairman of Correspondent Chapel, Tor Vande-Acka, who pledged to partner with the command, commended them for their efforts at ridding the state of crime and urged them to do more.ĺ
