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The Senate has asked the Federal Government to establish a permanent military base in the Gwer-West Local Government Area of Benue State to improve security and provide a faster response to attacks by bandits who often disguise themselves as herders.
This was part of resolutions during plenary on Wednesday after Tartenger-Zam raised a matter of urgent public importance, drawing attention to the worsening security crisis in Gwer-West as he criticized the slow response of the state government, stating that authorities often downplay the attacks as’mere skirmishes’.
The call followed a fresh wave of violence in the area between Sunday and Monday night, where at least four people were killed in another brutal invasion by armed attackers.
Tartenger-Zam warned that the persistent attacks could have severe economic consequences, particularly in agriculture, which is the primary occupation of Gwer-West residents.
Meanwhile, the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, reechoed Tartenger-Zam’s concerns, criticizing the Benue State government’s inaction, which he said was pushing citizens to take the law into their own hands.
The lawmakers also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide urgent relief materials to affected communities; they called on the Benue State Government to enforce its anti-open grazing law to prevent further conflicts as well as mandate its Committees on National Security, Intelligence, Livestock, Army, Police, Navy, Air Force, and Defense to visit Gwer-West for an on-the-spot security assessment and express sympathy to victims of the attacks.
