Benue State Government on Sunday revealed the source of the strange helicopter hovering around Onyagede in the Ohinmimi local government area of the state.

In an interaction with newsmen, the Special Adviser to the State Governor, Lt. Col. Paul Hemba disclosed that the helicopter belongs to a coal miner.

Hemba, called on the people of the area to remain calm, saying, Police and the military are keeping surveillance on all areas prone to security threats.

He said, “We just discovered that the helicopter is from a company exploring coal. The company is responsible for the flights causing panic all over the place. That is the information we got."

While acknowledging the apprehension from the community, the Security Adviser said that the state government was not aware of the presence of miners in the affected LGAs.

The Adviser, however, said that the state government was not aware of the presence of miners in the affected LGAs.

“Honestly, the government is unaware of most of these mining companies. Once they get their license from the federal government, which has the exclusive rights to issuing this license, they move to the site without knowing the host state government or community.

“This sometimes raises a lot of conflicts and misunderstandings and panic, just like we are experiencing now. This is what we are grappling with.

“So for that issue in Onyagede in Ohimini LGA, this is what we just discovered. The community had done the right thing by raising the alarm because we have advised our people to report strange faces and suspicious movements," he said.

Hemba expressed reservations about the attitude of some mining companies saying, “once they get mining license from Federal Government, they feel they have all the right. It is not until they run into a crisis with the community or panic issues like this that we know what is wrong.

The apprehension of residents of Onyagede in Ohinmimi LGA of the state over a strange helicopter dropping men with military uniform was earlier reported. (Text, excluding headline: Nigerian Tribune)

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