BENUE KILLINGS: Police arrest 54

*Ohanaeze Youths give killer herdsmen quit notice
*Reps want mobile policemen in border communities
By Hassan Zaggi, Gift Chapi Odekina, Samuel Ogidan (Abuja) and Steven Oko (Umuahia)
The manhunt for killers of innocent Nigerians in some parts of Nigeria has led to the arrest of 54 suspects.
The arrest of the suspects was disclosed on Monday in Abuja by the Police High Command, a day after the Senate asked the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to fish out the criminals.
All the suspects, according to the Nigeria Police were picked up in connection with the recent disturbances in Markudi, the Benue State capital.
Force spokesman, ACP Moshood Jimoh, told journalists in Abuja that eight of the suspects were arrested and detained over the New Year day killings in Benue.
He made the disclosures when he paraded before pressmen, 13 suspected kidnappers and armed robbers who were allegedly arrested at Gawu Babangida, Gurara Local Government Area of Niger State.
He stated that the IGP had directed the AIGs in charge of Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa and Adamawa States to beef up security in the states so as to curb further herdsmen killings.
At the event, 35-year-old suspected kidnapper, Abdullahi Ibrahim, confessed that his four-member gang was responsible for the kidnap of a fellow Fulani, Ardo Darke, shot him on the leg and collected N1.5 million ransom from his relations.
The suspect added that the man was kidnapped along Jos- Kaduna highway.
Ibrahim said: “We collected N1.5 million ransom from his relations, but some elders intervened and we returned the money. We held him for about two weeks and after our leaders intervened, we released hima�?.
Jimoh further explained that the suspects were arrested due to the directive issued by the IGP to ensure that all criminal elements within the Kaduna-Niger-Abuja axis were flushed out, adding that three of the victims were rescued from the kidnappers.
Some of the exhibits recovered from the suspects included three AK-47 rifles, assorted ammunition, locally made guns, and vehicles.
*Ohanaeze youths give killer herdsmen quit notice
Seeking to end unprovoked attacks, killings and maiming of communities, the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has ordered armed herdsmen to leave the South East zone.
The youths warned that any armed herdsman who fails to depart from the South East immediately is taking a personal risk.
In a press statement issued on Tuesday, OYC warned that Igbo youths would no longer watch the killer herdsmen disposes their ancestral lands and turn them into displaced persons in their own communities.
The statement was jointly signed by the OYC National President, Okechukwu Isiguzoro; the Secretary General, Okwu Nnabuike, and the National Publicity Secretary, Obinna Adibe.
They said the herdsmen had inflicted sorrow, pain and economic pains on several communities, hence the quit notice.
OYC accused the Federal Government of maintaining a�?criminal silencea�� over the barbaric activities of killer herdsmen in parts of the country, urging it to quickly declare the marauders a terrorist organisation and treat them as such.
It urged the Federal Government to limit the proposed colonies to the home states of the Fulani herdsmen, and to also consider the establishment of pig colonies in the North if it is sincere about the policy and entrenching national cohesion.
*Reps want mobile policemen in border communities
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives yesterday called on the Nigeria Police to send a Mobile Police Squad to provide security in boarder communities, as a remedial measure.
While condemning the incessant attacks on the people of Benue and Nasarawa States, the House urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to provide relief materials for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Awe, Azara, Keana and Rukubi communities in Nasarawa State.
This followed a motion of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Mohammed Onawo, during plenary in Abuja.
Onawod explained that the clashes between the Tiv communities of Benue, Nasarawa States and the killer herdsmen attacks had led to inhabitants fleeing their homes to seek refuge in Awe, Keana and Doma LGAs.