Latest Benue News today, Friday, November 18, 2022

1. Tiv Area Traditional Council has condemned in strong terms what it describes as “the incessant, brutal and mindless attacks (not communal clashes) on innocent, unarmed farmers and farming communities especially border communities” of Benue State by armed herdsmen and bandits.

The Council has therefore called on the Federal Government to reinforce “the numerical and technical capacity” of the Operation Whirl Stroke “to fight the terrorists and bandits with greater firepower and guarantee the safety of lives and property” in the state.

2. The member representing Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency of Plateau State in the House of Representatives, Solomon Maren, has alleged ethnic cleansing of his constituents.

He told reporters at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, yesterday, that his position was based on the seeming inaction of security agencies to curtail the wanton killings in his constituency.

3. A member of the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards was reportedly killed, on Tuesday, during a gun battle between the police and suspected kidnappers, who abducted passengers of a commercial vehicle near Otukpa in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State.

It was gathered that the armed men had, at about 3pm, barricaded the Ugbokolo-Otukpa road and abducted the passengers in the commercial bus and whisked them into the bush, firing gunshots to scare other road users and the locals away.

4. The vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has approved the framework for a $3 billion hydropower plant project in Benue State.

This is according to a statement from the office of the vice president (OVP) sent to Nairametrics.

5. A joint patrol team of the police, military and vigilante on Tuesday rescued three kidnap victims in Otukpa, Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State.

This is contained in a statement signed by Police Spokesperson Sewuese Anene and issued on Wednesday in Makurdi.

The police said that the security personnel got information that a vehicle enroute Otukpa-Onitsha was attacked by suspected kidnappers who abducted some passengers.