Hundreds of indigenes of Benue state on Thursday besieged the entrance of the National Assembly Complex.

Dressed in black attires and wielding different placards, the protesters lamented the killings suspected to have been carried out by herdsmen.

They also kicked against the idea of establishing cattle colonies.

The protesters we, however, prevented from entering the premises by security agencies.

President Muhammadu Buhari would lead Nigerian delegation to the 30th Ordinary Session of Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government summit in Addis Ababa next week. The Spokesman, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Tiwatope Elias-Fatile, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja while fielding questions from newsmen.

Gunmen on Wednesday abducted one American and a Canadian in Kaduna, killing two police officers, according to the police.

The Nigerian Police has disputed claims that the ranch guards who were inaugurated by the state government were unarmed, insisting that the police have evidence to the contrary.

Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, while speaking Thursday on Channels Television, also countered claims by Governor Samuel Ortom that armed militia groups did not exist in the State.

“Yes, they were armed with AK-47 (riffles); we have records, we have footage and you can’t just start arming people,” he said.

“There are a lot of militia groups equally in Benue and we are looking at all those areas to ensure that the actual perpetrators of this mayhem are promptly arrested.

“People who are supposed to ensure that when they observe (you say you have a guard) and report back to the police that would probably do the appropriate thing; if such a guard is armed with AK-47 rifle, how do you control that, how do you prevent such AK-47 (riffle) from going into wrong hands?” Moshood questioned, while reacting to the ranch guard set-up by the state government to enforce the anti-open grazing law.

Chairman of the Bayelsa State Waterways Security Task Force, BSWSTF, Africanus Ukparasia, has warned militants to desist from attacking oil installations in the Niger Delta region.

This followed threat by the Avengers to renew its attacks on pipelines and other oil installations in the region.

Ukparasia, formerly known as General Africa, gave the warning when he patrolled the creeks of Bayelsa State.

The former commander of the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, stressed that he would live up to his mandate of securing the creeks and preventing nefarious activities from the state.

Niger Delta Avengers, a Nigerian militant group has threatened on Wednesday to attack off-shore oil facilities within days, raising fears of a repeat of a 2016 wave of violence that helped push Africa’s biggest economy into recession. The Niger Delta Avengers - the fighters behind many of the 2016 attacks - said they had planned the assaults after giving up on talks to give their impoverished southern region a greater share of the oil revenue it produced.