TheCable

Fatai Owoseni, commissioner of police in Benue, says a number of arrests have been made in connection to the clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the state.

In an interview with NAN on Sunday in Abuja, the commissioner said those arrested were being prosecuted in court.

He said: “Every security institution that is present in Benue is up and doing, quite a number of arrest were made and the police, being the institution through which prosecution is made, the suspects are being arraigned in court.

“The army, NSCDC and members of the public do arrest and handover to us. I won’t be able to give the exact figure but quite a number of arrests have been made and they have been arraigned in court.”

He urged Benue people to continue to support security agencies in the state.

Owoseni described the clashes between the two groups as a major security challenge in the state. He said the command has adopted different strategies to curtail

“The major security challenge in Benue is the herdsmen and farmers clashes and different approaches have been used to check it,” he said.

The commissioner said the approaches adopted by the command to contain the incident include dialogue, intelligence policing and the involvement of communities in activities of the command.

He explained that normal strategies of policing and community-based strategies in policing were also adopted to check the security challenges.

“The security architecture has been put in place after IGP Ibrahim Idris went to the state for an assessment before I was deployed to the state,” he said.

He added that the command had followed the strategies adopted all along and utilised both human and material resources available.

The commissioner said the deployment of 15 police mobile units (PMF) to the state was an added advantage.

He said the command’s good working relationship with sister security agencies and support of the state government helped in curtailing the challenge.