Benue Youth Protest Deployment Of Troops For Polls

Benue youths, yesterday, trooped into the streets of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, protesting the recent call by the leadership of All Progressives Congress, APC, for the deployment of the military to the state to oversee Saturday’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections in the state.
Labour leaders at the entrance of Benue Govt House The youths, who displayed placards some of which read “We say no to the militarisation of Benue,” “Where was the military when our people were butchered by herdsmen,” “Don’t use the military to rig Benue elections,” “APC don’t drag the military into politics,” matched to Government House to register their protest.
Speaking on behalf of the youths, Pastor Dave Ogbole said they had it on good authority that a top military personnel had already been drafted to the state to oversee the Saturday elections.
Receiving the youths, Governor Samuel Ortom, who noted that elections in the state had been peaceful, regretted that leaders of APC were bent on using the military to subvert the coming election.
He said: “APC in Benue has been depleted due to in-fighting. We are going into the elections prepared. It is not a do-or-die matter. We know and they also know that Benue is PDP and the people will resist any attempt to subvert the process.”