The Benue State Commissioner for Police, Bashir Makama, is on his way on a visit to violence torn town of Ugbokolo where no less than 18 persons have been shot to death in nightly raids by suspected gangsters. No matter what, the visit must have its discursive effect and symbolic impact although many people are saying it should have come many weeks ago.
The one day visit would certainly not end what has been going on because experts say it is more complex than meets the eye. They are wondering, for instance, why the gangsters took ‘Radical’ whom they killed last week from one end of the town to another, still killing him after obliging them their request. The visit of the commissioner has been linked to killings in the last two days, including that of a prominent local politician, Mr Ambrose Abah. Most of them are outside urban Ugbokolo but in the outskirts and suburbs.
It might not be beyond the scope of the Police to contain but how the nine or so typically vulnerable villages surrounding the Benue Polytechnic or the inner, unprotected villages in the vast Edumoga District hinterland would be secured and protected are what people are expecting from the Commissioner. It is possible that Mr Makama would come out with a detailed strategy in a likely post visit news conference. Intervention would be following the visit.
