CDS Musa pushes for training of Benue youths as vigilantes to combat terrorism

The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has called for the training and deployment of credible youths in Benue State as vigilantes to support military efforts in protecting communities from terrorist and criminal attacks.

Speaking during a strategic meeting with traditional rulers in Makurdi on Tuesday, General Musa emphasized the need for a community-based approach to security, similar to the successful model implemented in Borno State.

He urged the traditional leaders to identify and support trustworthy youths within their domains who can be trained and supervised by the military to help safeguard their communities.

General Musa also issued a stern warning against shielding or enabling criminal elements, stressing that acts of sabotage would not be tolerated as the military intensifies efforts to restore peace and stability in the state.

Meanwhile, the Nasarawa State govenror, Abdullahi Sule, visited his brother governor Hyacinth Alia to commiserate with the people of Benue over Yelewata attacks.

Sule urged both states to close ranks and nip the killings in the bud, as he announced the donation of ₦150 million to support Benue internally displaced persons.

The defense chief who has been in the state since Monday had said the military would change strategy to combat the acts of terror.

Benue, a food-producing state in Nigeria’s North-Central zone, has been under heavy attacks by suspected herdsmen for some time. The killings have lingered for years, with some linking it to inter-communal conflicts as well as the quest for land dominance between the autochthonous agrarian dwellers and nomadic cattle rearers.

However, the killings in the last few weeks have been without a break. At least over 160 residents were confirmed killed in a series of attacks by suspected herdsmen who wreaked havoc in different communities in the state within two months.

Last Friday, at least 59 residents of the Yelewata area in the state were killed and over 3000 persons displaced during an overnight attack by suspected herdsmen.

The killings in Benue have attracted national outrage and global attention from Pope Leo XIV who condemned the “terrible massacre” and called for an end to it.

On Sunday, President Bola Tinubu charged Governor Hyacinth Alia with convening reconciliation meetings and dialogue among the warring parties to end the incessant bloodshed and bring lasting peace and harmonious coexistence between farmers, herders, and communities.

Billed to visit the troubled state on Wednesday, the President also ordered the service chiefs including CDS Musa to immediately end the killings of innocent citizens.

On Monday, CDS Musa and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun toured the troubled scenes and ordered field commanders from neighbouring Nasarawa State to review their operational strategies and deal decisively with any act of terrorism in the state.

“We are tired of innocent souls being killed, and we’re here to ensure that we address such. I’ll be going to see my commanders and we have to change our strategy.

“We’re going to look inward and see how we can address it, but as we mentioned, we cannot do it alone without the community, without the state.

“We need everybody to be part of it. We understand that even before now we used to have even within us people that compromise and give information because going around, you see the way some of the burnings were made, were targeted and which means they were insiders and so, I’ve discussed with the communities, the traditional rulers, with the clergy for us to work united,” CSD Musa had said.