Benue Government Arrests Own Security Guards Running Illegal Checkpoints on Major Roads

The Benue State Government moved on Tuesday to dismantle several illegal checkpoints operated by members of the Benue State Civil Protection Guards along the Makurdi-Otukpo road. The operation was led personally by Joseph Har, the Governor's Special Adviser on Security and Internal Affairs, accompanied by the State Commander and other senior BSCPG officers.

Two checkpoints in Aliade were taken down. The guards running them were disarmed and arrested on the spot.

The operation came after a pattern became too visible to ignore. Roadblocks were multiplying across Benue State's highways, and the Benue State Commissioner of Police had already issued clear orders that highways were not to be blocked without proper authorisation.

Har observed the growth of these checkpoints, verified their legal status, and found them wanting. The guards at those posts were not operating under any legitimate mandate. They were there on their own, or at someone else's instruction, and that distinction matters enormously when you think about what unsupervised checkpoints tend to become.

The statement released by Media Aide Mfa Igirigi captured the core problem: the roadblocks were obstructing traffic and, because many were unmanned at certain hours, were actually creating opportunities for criminals rather than stopping them. An abandoned checkpoint is basically a free excuse to stop vehicles. Anyone can exploit it.

This is the detail that elevates the story beyond a routine enforcement action.

Har also ordered the removal of a checkpoint that soldiers had set up near a Chinese office, reportedly to protect the Chinese Harbor Company and its expatriate workers. His reasoning was direct and hard to argue with: if your job is to protect the company, protect the company. Stand at the gate. Secure the premises. Do not block a public road and call it a security operation.

He instructed the soldiers to redirect their presence to the actual property rather than the highway. That kind of clarity, telling security personnel what their mandate actually is versus what they seem to think it is, is more rare than it should be.