Troops of 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army stationed in Takum, Taraba State, have on Sunday, arrested 9 members of Benue State government sponsored armed militia known as Civilian JTF at Arufu, a boundary town between Taraba and Benue State.
Five of them were armed with AK-45 rifles fully loaded. On their arrest, a reinforcement of CJTF came to prevent troops from arresting and transporting the arrested CJTF to the Battalion Headquarters.
However, when the soldiers stood their ground, the armed militias' reinforcement later withdrew. During the preliminary investigation the arrested CJTF claimed that the weapons were issued to them by Benue State government through one Alhaji Aliyu Tashaku.
The suspects also confirmed that they were 60 in number in their own camp located at Gbeyi, Benue State. However, further investigation revealed that they were more than 1,000 at the camp, while over 700 of them bear arms.
Additionally, they revealed that the Benue State Government pay them the sum of N15,000.00 monthly. However, the state is owing them close to 5 months salary as at this month.
They further revealed that they were trained by selected ex-service men.
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