By Bukola Olasanmi
President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector-General of Police have been alerted to the alleged criminal activities of the Benue State Volunteer Guards used as political killer squad by the Chairman of Ado Local Government, James Oche.
The Benue Coalition on Human Rights made this known in a letter to the President, IGP, National Security Adviser and heads of other security agencies.
In the letter co-signed by Rev. Solomon Semaka and Patriot Okwori Onaji, its President and Secretary General, the group also alleged that Mr Oche has been using the supposed guards to intimidate and harass perceived political opponents.
According to the group, the council boss has trained and armed over 50 youths to carry out his criminal bidding under the guise of the volunteer guards.
It added that Oche has been fingered in some of the attacks that decimated communities with his militias posing as bandits, herdsmen or unknown gunmen.
The group said the most recent attack was carried out in Otukpo wherein three natives were dehumanized and left in coma.
“Mr James Oche, in violation of the law, has established, trained and armed over 50 youths under the auspices of Benue Volunteers Guard. The head of the killer squad is Mark Johnson Odey, who is the Chief Executioner. The armed militia group operates around Otukpo, Ado and Okpokwu Local Government Areas of Benue State. Benue Volunteers Guard conducts military drills in the forest under the cover of being anti-banditry marshals but ostensibly the dark intent of this illegal activity is for the purpose of killing major political opponents ahead of the 2023 General Elections,” the letter said.
“Local intelligence has in the past hinted at Mr. James Oche’s involvement in some of the attacks that decimated communities in the axis through Benue Volunteers Guard militias, who pose as bandits, herdsmen or unknown gunmen, depending on what narrative he desires to push. The inability of authorities to conclusively pin these killings on Oche and his militia group has emboldened him to the point where they now engage in open attacks on Nigerians.
“Oche led the Benue Volunteers Guard militias to carry out such an attack on Saturday 12th November 2022, at about 11.00 P.M. in Otukpo, Benue State. They struck at a hotel in Otukpo, where they abducted one Mr Williams Okefie Epe and Mr. Patrick Ezza and whisked them to the militia’s camp in the forest, where we reliably gathered that they were to have been killed but for the pressure mounted by the Police and leaders of thought in the region. Another citizen, Best Agbese was targeted.
“It is noteworthy that Epe is an APC Presidential Campaign Council member. On the other hand, Ezza is a human rights activist and social commentator. Both men are well known and could not have been mistaken for miscreants as Oche later attempted to deceive the public to believe.
“We have attached petitions made to law enforcement organizations in this regard in order not to bore you with the horrific details of what these victims suffered at the hands of the militia group that is rapidly mutating into a full-blown terror organization.”
It, however, warned that if not curtailed, they may metamorphose into another radical terrosist group.
“The Benue Coalition on Human Rights is speaking up on this matter because we are witnesses to how stakeholders in Borno State are today being blamed for keeping quiet while the then-infamous ECOMOG Boys transited into Boko Haram/ISWAP. The argument is that had the stakeholders raised the alarm early enough, the terrorist group would have been contained in its infancy before it became as virulent as it is currently.
“We, therefore, appeal that you use your good office to dismantle the Benue Volunteers Guard before it becomes another crisis group for the country.”