Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has convened a meeting of the State Security Council to review recent attacks and killings in the state and strengthen measures to prevent further violence.
The meeting, held on Wednesday at the New Government House, Little Rayfield, Jos, followed a series of deadly attacks in parts of the state, including the killing of residents in Mangu and security personnel in Riyom.
According to Daily Trust, the meeting reviewed emerging security threats, intelligence gathering and sharing, preventive operations, inter-agency cooperation and measures to protect lives, property and economic activities across the state.
The Commissioner of Police in Plateau, Ayodeji Faniyan, said after the meeting that security agencies had arrested suspects in connection with some of the major attacks recorded in the state in the past month.
Mr Faniyan said investigations were ongoing to identify and apprehend other persons linked to the attacks.
“Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang is the Chief Security Officer of the State, and once in a while, we review the security situation. We assess the security situation in order to take steps to improve on what we already have,” he said, according to Daily Trust.
“The Mangu case was very unfortunate. We prepared and deployed, but somehow, such incidents still occurred. That is part of why His Excellency called this meeting so that such incidents must not happen again.”
Recent attacks
The meeting came about two weeks after an attack on Bin Mper community in Mangu Local Government Area in which at least 24 people were reported killed.
The attack occurred in the early hours of 18 August, with residents reporting that gunmen moved from house to house and attacked people in their homes.
Amnesty International subsequently condemned the killings and called for an investigation into the security lapses that allowed the attackers to operate.
The police later said Mr Mutfwang visited Bin’per community, where he commiserated with residents and pledged that security agencies would identify, arrest and prosecute those responsible.
The state has also recorded attacks on security personnel.
On 30 August, suspected gunmen attacked Tanjol and Tarai communities in Jol District of Riyom Local Government Area, killing two security operatives and reportedly taking away their rifles, according to residents who spoke with the media.
Several people were also reportedly injured in the attack, while a civilian was said to be missing.
The incident came amid renewed security concerns in Riyom, where armed attacks have previously targeted both civilians and security personnel.
Police promise proactive response
Mr Faniyan said security agencies were working with their counterparts at the state and national levels to track those responsible for recent attacks.
“We have some arrests; investigation is ongoing. We are not investigating in isolation. We are collaborating with all the other agencies up to the national level. We are still going after some suspects, and we are doing a lot of technological analysis,” he said, according to Daily Trust.
He said the governor had directed security agencies to strengthen proactive measures and prevent further attacks.
The commissioner urged residents to provide credible and timely information about suspicious persons, movements and activities to security agencies.
He said the objective was to strengthen intelligence-led policing and enable security agencies to identify and neutralise threats before they resulted in attacks.
READ ALSO: Mangu Killings: ‘Nobody will take over your land’ — Governor Mutfwang tells residents
The governor’s meeting also comes days after he joined other North Central governors and security stakeholders at the regional security summit in Makurdi, Benue State, on August 31, where he called for stronger intelligence sharing and coordinated operations among states and security agencies.
At the summit, Mr Mutfwang said attackers were exploiting routes linking parts of the North-West with Taraba and Nasarawa states to enter Plateau and called for greater inter-state cooperation to disrupt such movements.
The latest meeting is expected to further shape the state’s security response as authorities seek to prevent a recurrence of the recent attacks and protect communities across Plateau.
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