By Adepote Arowojobe
Lagos – Security experts on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to engage the services of vigilance group to end the incessant herdsmen and farmers’ crisis and other security challenges.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the locals understand their terrains better than the security operatives posted to such areas they were not familiar with.
A retired Commissioner of Police, Mr Aghanya Ibezimako, said that security agencies could engage the group for the purposes of information gathering.
Ibezimako, a former commissioner in Benue, Kogi and Ekiti, said that efficient intelligent gathering, which the group would provide, could easily end the fight against terrorism and herdsmen/farmers’ crisis.
“The civilian JTF in Borno has recorded a lot of achievements in the fight against Boko Haram.
“They can still do the same in Benue, if initiated and empowered by the government,” he said.
Also, Frank Odita, a former police spokesman and retired Commissioner of Police, said that the locals have a lot of roles to play in ending security challenges in their domains.
Odita urged the locals to collaborate with the law enforcement agencies by giving important information regularly to curtail the incessant killings of innocent people.
According to him, the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) have no business in Benue.
“In dealing with issues of this nature, it is important you don’t deploy an organisation without sophisticated instrument to curtail the act.
“All security agencies should collaborate with the police and the vigilance group to end the herdsmen-farmers’ attacks,” Odita said.
Contributing, Mr Tony Azorh, the Director, Topzy Security Ltd., called on the government to train the civilian JTF for information gathering.
Azorh said that the JTF operatives understood the interior of a community than any stranger.
“The operatives know when a stranger enters a community.
“Herdsmen can only attack and strike in the isolated areas and not in urban areas.
“In this case, the locals should be engaged to manage issues within,” Azorh said.
(NAN)
