- The Nigerian Army arrested six suspected armed militia in Benue
- One of the suspects reportedly died in the process of the arrest
- However, One of the suspects claimed their village was invaded by suspected herdsmen and they were looking for their dead colleague when the soldiers arrested them
The Nigerian Army on Tuesday, May 8, arrested six suspected armed militia at Tse-Dum village in Mbawar council ward of Guma local government area of Benue state.
The commanding officer of 72 Battalion, Lt. Col. Suleiman Muhammad, who paraded the suspects, said the troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade in Makurdi, apprehended the suspects in continuation of the offensive launched against those troubling the area, Daily Trust reports.
NAIJ.com gathered that Muhammad said that one of the suspects died in the process of their arrest while the remaining five paraded with the weapons in their possession would be made to face the law.
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He gave the names of the suspects as; John Yobeh, Terso Nyaku, Agboh Ukume, Thomas Adum and Faaga Uereyev.
However, one of the suspects, Ukume, alleged that suspected herders had early hours of Tuesday invaded their community and took away one of them, stressing that those of them arrested had traced the invaders' footsteps to recover the missing man.
Ukume explained further that after a thorough search in the bush, they recovered the corpse of the paraded dead man and while on their way back home with the body, they were intercepted by the soldiers.
The suspect said he narrated what happened to the soldiers who went around their houses and arrested five of them with weapons which they kept to defend their community.
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NAIJ.com previously reported that in a bid to curb the growing trend of rampant killings especially in the riverine areas of Benue by armed herdsmen, the Defence Headquarters of the Nigerian Army concluded plans to deploy boats on Benue waterways to check the activities of the marauders.
Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, the chief of Army staff, who made this known in the Logo local government area of the state at the end of his tour of some communities plagued by herdsmen crisis in the state, said the army was already deploying and positioning sufficient soldiers to closely watch over the communities.
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Source: Naija.ng
