Benue PDP Alleges Engagement Of Ex-terrorist Suspect To Return IDPs

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Benue State chapter has challenged the engagement of Al-Tershak Global Security Ltd established by Alhaji Aliyu Tashaku to return internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their homes alleging that the owner of the company is an alleged ex-profiled international terrorist suspect.

The party’s spokesperson Bemgba Iortyom who made the allegation in a statement recalled the report of the arrest of Tashaku on April 30, 2018 by the Nigerian Army for being a suspected member of the Boko Haram terrorist group and also for being connected with killings in the state.

The party advised the state governor Hyacinth Alia  to make diligent investigation about the chairman of the security outfit known as Al-Tershak Global Security Ltd.

“The security outfit owned by Alhaji Aliyu Tashaku was inaugurated last Saturday by the present administration with the objective of returning back displaced farmers by the killer herdsmen to their ancestral homes, but we want to advise the governor to profile the owner of the security outfit based on his antecedents,” he said.

Iortyom added, “Has Governor Alia done due diligence on the person and profile of Alhaji Tashaku and ascertained satisfactorily that he is a fit and proper character to deliver on the objective of achieving peace and security as stated?”

Iortyom who cited newspapers’ report on the arrest and allegations levelled against Tashaku by Nigerian Army queried, “Where and when has there arisen the need for a new local security outfit in Benue, considering that the Livestock Guards and the Community Volunteer Guards are both still lawfully operational and working with regular security agencies on the task of ensuring peace and security in the land?

“PDP notes that Alhaji Tashaku in his address at the occasion revealed that the inaugurated security outfit is under the overall command of a Fulani man, and from the available list, its officers are also predominantly of Fulani ethnic stock, and this raises the question; how will such an outfit achieve its stated objective to return Benue farmers to their lands from where they were displaced by Fulani herdsmen?

“Will Fulani men now come in and fight against their brothers and dislodge them from lands they have taken and occupied in Benue and return the same to the local displaced farmers?

“Should Benue people expect this to be the sort of assumption which will form the basis of the security initiatives to be pursued by the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia towards returning IDPs to their homes as he had promised?

“While Aliyu Tashaku had used the occasion to lay claim to a tall resume in security operational pedigree across Nigeria, including having worked with various security agencies, the fact remains that he stands profiled by the same security agencies he claims to have worked with, as a suspected international terrorist.

“Governor Alia should, therefore, as a matter of urgency clarify to the people of Benue how he intends to use a profiled suspected international terrorist to fulfill his promise to return Benue farmers back to their ancestral lands from where they were displaced by same terrorists which Alhaji Aliyu Tershaku had over the years been linked with,” he said.