Benue gov raises alarm of IGP to withdraw police from IDPs camps

Ortom said this on Wednesday in a chat with journalists in Makurdi. Our correspondent, who visited three out of the eight IDP camps on Thursday, observed palpable apprehension among the displaced persons. Ortom had on Wednesday told journalists that, “I received information that policemen in the IDP camps were withdrawn on the directive of the Inspector-General of Police and I have no control over them.” The governor said he would visit the camps, starting from next week, to address the displaced persons on the need for them to seek alternative places to take refuge. “I will be going to the camps to visit them to tell them to find alternatives because there is no point in keeping them. “The N200m that (Governor Nyesom) Wike promised is in the account; I will use the money to mobilise them and whatever we get at the State Emergency Management Agency will be distributed to them.” When our correspondent visited three of the eight camps located in the Makurdi and Guma local government areas on Thursday, the IDPs expressed apprehension over the news. However, policemen were found in the camps at Abegana camp in Makurdi, RCM Primary School and Humanitarian Refugees camps all in Daudu, when our correspondent visited on Thursday. The chairman of the IDPs at Abegana camp, Philip Usatse, told our correspondent that though the report of the withdrawal of policemen had filtered into the camp, he was not sure the development would affect the camp. But an elderly person at a refugee camp at the RCM Primary School, Daudu, Pa Ortese, said, “We were told that the policemen deployed in this camp are expected to leave the camp and you know that if such a thing happens, we are not safe.” At the humanitarian refugee camp in Daudu, Mrs Dooshima Joel, who spoke through an interpreter, said the report of the withdrawal was brought to them on Wednesday. “We have been living in fear since then; we cannot go back to our communities because the Fulani are still there,” she said. The camp commandant at the Daudu camps, Omirigbe Angela, confirmed to our correspondent that they were informed of the withdrawal of policemen. “It is true, we were told yesterday (Wednesday) that the policemen deployed in the two camps in Daudu here would be withdrawn today (Thursday) but as you can see they are still here,” he said. Efforts to get the reaction of the spokesman for the state police command, DSP Moses Yamu, failed as he did not pick the call. Meanwhile, the Benue State Government, on Thursday, appealed to the Police Service Commission to put an end to the siege being laid by policemen to the state’s House of Assembly complex. In a petition sent to the PSC by the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Michael Gusa, the state urged the commission to stop the illegal invasion and sealing of the Assembly complex by policemen. The government urged the police to allow the new Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Titus Uba, and other lawmakers, access to the Assembly complex. “The change in leadership of the House is a routine legislative affair, in which the police are not expected to take sides and unleash chaos on the legislative arm of the government of Benue State,” the attorney general said in the petition. He explained that policemen invaded the Assembly complex on July 28 on the order of the Commissioner of Police in the state, who was, in turn, carrying out the order of the Inspector-General of Police. He said the security agents forced the lawmakers out and sealed the Assembly complex. “In order to forestall the breakdown of law and order, the affected lawmakers took out an action in the High Court of Benue State and secured an order of interim injunction restraining the police from sealing the complex or interfering with the functions of the new leadership of the House. “But the police have disobeyed the court order, hence the need to seek the intervention of the commission,” Gusa said.]]>