Governor Abdullahi Sule, of NasarawaState and his Benue counterpart, Samuel Ortom, have appealed to theFederal Government to sustain the military operation code-named: ‘Operation WhirlStroke’, to guarantee full restoration of peace in the region. They made the appeal at a jointsecurity meeting in Lafia, following tensions arising from the federalgovernment’s decision to withdraw the military involved in the securityoperation covering Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states. According to the Governors,sustaining the military operation for at least another two years would ensurethe full restoration of peace as well as flushing out all criminal elementsoperating in the region. Sule, in his submission, notedthat there had not been any serious security breach since the announcement forthe withdrawal of the military. He however said that there was tension andfear, especially in the border communities, with residents leaving their homes. On his part, Ortom wants the federalgovernment to reconsider its decision on the withdrawal of the military, sayingthat peace is yet to be fully restored to the various communities. He addedthat most of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs from last year’s attack inBenue were yet to be fully returned to their homes.