INSECURITY IN ANAMBRA STATE, A COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY — C.P .
Awka: Obiorah Anthony Ugwonwa
It has been observed that the unabated rate of insecurity, crimes and criminalities in Anambra State calls for collective responsibility of all well meaning individuals, groups, associations and the Church to be tackled completely in the area.
The Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Nnaghe Obono Itam, made the observation in his office in Awka, while receiving in an audience the President ,Joint Transporters Forum, Anambra State, Reverend Elvis O. Okolie and the Heads of other member organizations of the Forum who paid him a courtesy visit to identify with the Police Command in its aggressive fight against crimes and other related matters in the State.
The Commissioner, who said that the people have the duty to protect their State, affirmed that the issue of security in any environment is not by trust, but suppose to be the duty of everybody in the Society.
While asking Ndi Anambra and the general public to follow the laws that guide their conducts in the society, the Police Commissioner, recalled that when Nigerian got her independence in 1960, that majority of the people that led the Country at that time were drawn from the South -East extraction of the Country, while the richest man then was late Pa Louis Ojukwu, who also come from the area, Anambra State to be precise.
He confirmed that the highest billionaires in the Country today come from Anambra State and argued that instead of the billionaires in the area to use their wealths to bring light, they use them for darkness in the area.
He reminded people in the transport sector in Anambra State that they have a lot to do in the total fight against insecurity in the State, pointing out that the issue of the unknown gunmen in the South -East is not difficult to deal with because according to him, the perpetrators are living within the people.
Mr. Itam, who said that Nigeria is divided now in both the security and political sectors, stated that the unknown gunmen take advantage of the divisions in the security and political domains of the Country to operate freely because every rich man in the South East today have their own security apparatus.
The Commissioner, advised the forum to identify with good vigilantes in the State, telling Ndi-Anambra and the residents that they have the responsibilities to restore peace in the State, stressing that there are lots of works to be done in Anambra State in terms of insecurity.
The Police boss ,who spoke among other things in the course of the visit, opined that he was not happy with the security situation in Anambra State, calling on the leadership of the Forum to talk to their members to always control themselves while on duty, even when they are under the influence of hard substance.
He assured that the Command would work together with the Forum, but regretted that recently about 46 persons were killed in the Keke parks in different occasions in Anambra State in the quest of who controls the revenue in the parks, advising Heads of the Forum to work towards addressing the issue urgently.
Earlier, the President of the Joint Transporters Forum (JTFAS), Anambra State Chapter, Reverend Elvis Okolie, said that the position of the Forum revolved around crime prevention and other related matters as well as their request to partnering with police Anambra State in eradication of dreaded holocaust.
He stated that the transport sector in Anambra State has in the recent past suffered different shocks both from Government and the masses because of the activities of criminal elements in the area whom, he said find their ways easily in the transport system to perpetrate all manners of crimes. He commended the Commissioner for his zero tolerance to crimes and their perpetrators in the State.
The President, recalled that Anambra State Government was in a bid to deal with the issue of insecurity in the transport industry banned the operations of the commercial motorcycles in the Urban areas of Awka and Onitsha respectively, yet the crimes in the transport sector had remained unabated .
He observed that the Police Formation in Anambra State are not magicians, adding that they needed to work with information from the masses , especially from those of them in the transport System, who operate daily and access every parts of the State to operate optimally.
He stated that it was in the light of the above and other related matters, that they decided to visit the Commissioner in order to design better ways of handling the security challenges threatening their operations in the State in order to redeem their image.
The President, who doubled as the Secretary General of Keke Owners and Riders in Anambra State, assured the Commissioner that the Forum had in a recent meeting resolved to partnering with his office in crime prevention in the transport sector through guarded information flow in Anamvra State.
In there separate speeches, the Secretary of the Forum, Comrade , Anthony Aniebue and the Chairman, Keke Owners and Riders Awka Zone, Prince Collins Ozojiofor, confirmed that security situations in Anambra State, Awka metropolis in particular are terrible and thanked the Commissioner for his open door policy in the State, pledging the total support of the Forum in combating the security challenges in Anambra State and beyond.
