By Lami Ibrahim
It took the intervention of Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, VDM, to prevail on angry Benue youths to end their protest over the killings in the state after they took over the popular Wurukum Roundabout Sunday morning, preventing vehicular movements from the Northern and Southern parts of the country.
The thousands of protesters who stormed the roundabout as early as 7am singing solidarity songs as they marched round the popular roundabout near the Makurdi Bridge resisted all pleas by the Benue State Police Commissioner, Ifeanyi Emenari and the Deputy Governor, Samuel Ode to vacate the roundabout as commuters remained stranded.
Even the low-flying helicopters that came hovering around the area did not scare the protesters, who stood their ground as they moved around with tree branches and placards with inscriptions like “Stop Benue killings”, “Government has failed us”, “We will not surrender to Fulani” among others.
One of the leaders of the youths and social media influencer, Seedoff Mbapuun alias Benue Pete Edochie, lamented that they embarked on the protest because the attacks and killings in the state were getting out of hand, and the government was not doing enough to end it.
He said: “These attacks have been going on for years and no one is safe anymore and Yelewata is not far from Makurdi. People are killed everyday in Benue and the world is not aware. We have had enough that is why we came out to let the world know.”
The Police Commissioner, on his part, appealed to the protesters to vacate the roundabout, stressing that the police were in control of the situation, assuring that the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, had deployed the Police Special Forces and Tactical Teams to parts of the state to help put an end to the attacks and killings.
He said: “What you saw happen in Yelewata Saturday was because we have taken over Apa, Gwer West and are pushing in Agatu, and while they were escaping, they just wanted to do something to create the impression that they were in control.
“Some of the bandits were eliminated during the exchange of fire. So, with the support and reinforcement from the IGP, you can rest assured that we are in control in collaboration with sister security agencies.
“So we feel your pains with you because we are here for no other reason but the security of lives and property in the state. In the last month in the state, we deployed security everywhere to ensure peace.
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