Benue Bloody Robbery: Appoint Security Adviser In 72 Hours, Assembly Tells Gov. Alia

The Benue State House of Assembly has given Governor Hyacinth Alia a seventy-two-hour ultimatum to appoint a special adviser on security.

The House said this is a direct fallout of the inability to reach the security agencies for a timely response to the two-hour Otukpo bank robbery.

The ultimatum by the state legislature followed a motion moved by the member representing the Otukpo-Akpa State constituency Angbo Kennedy who among other prayers wants all hotels and leisure spots to open mandatory ledger on all guests.

The Speaker Aondona Dajoh while ruling on the prayers, gave the governor a three-day ultimatum to appoint a security adviser.

One of the lawmakers Godwin Edoh who escaped the Otukpo bank robbery where dynamites were used as explosives lamented his inability to reach out to anyone from the state for lack of a substantive security adviser.

He also said he could not reach anyone at the local government level where chairmen in the states have remained suspended since June 2023.

According to Angbo, the member representing Otukpo-Akpa, the bank robbery where Divisional Police Officer John Adikwu, three other personnel, and six other civilians were killed has opened up gaps in the security architecture of the state.

“Note that armed robbers numbering about 30 on motorbikes entered Otukpo town on Friday 20th October,” he said.

Angbo prayed that the security agencies should without delay establish the immediate and remote causes of the attack and fish out the perpetrators of the carnage.

He also prayed that the state government should set up a trust fund to help families and victims of violent attacks across the state with a view to offsetting medical and burial expenses.

This is in addition to the establishment of another police station in Otukpo to support emergency response.

The lawmaker also prayed to the House that the state through the ministries of health and humanitarian and disaster management provide at least two fully equipped ambulances to all 23 local government areas to help in emergency times.

One of the survivors of the Otukpo bank robbery and member representing Agatu state constancy Godwin Edoh narrated his experience and called for the scaling up of security by the Benue State Government.

“I was sitting directly behind Zenith Bank in Otukpo when the robbers opened fire and started using explosives using dynamites, and we scampered from one compound to the other and hid under a bed just to get away from the robbers.

“I was able to escape and remained in Otukpo till Sunday but each time the doors in the hotel I lodged opened, I panicked in fear as the over two hours bank robbery left me traumatized,” he added.