By Emeka Alex Duru
For governors of the South East comprising Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi, it is time to make security of the zone a major consideration. And in this, there seems to be no looking back. Indications to this effect emerged following a meeting by the governors in Enugu over the weekend, where they resolved to forward a bill to the various Houses of Assembly to enact a law to back-up a South East Regional Security Programme.
Chairman of the South East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, stated that the arrangement with the Houses of Assembly will arrive at a name for the regional security outfit. Umahi stressed that the idea of embarking on the initiative did not just emerge from the blues, adding that the governors had earlier given a serious thought on joint regional security on July 28, 2019, and consequently inaugurated the committee on August 31. The Forum, he added, had even written the federal government concerning the security outfit.
The South East security agenda comes on the heels of a similar initiative by the governors of the South West, who had on January 9, in Ibadan, Oyo State, unveiled a regional security outfit, code named Operation Amotekun, as complement to the mainstream security agencies in the area.
South East communities endangered
As with the South West and other zones, the South East is also vulnerable to the increasing security challenge in the country. Though unlike the North, the South East is yet to be challenged by a full-blown insurgency in the mould of Boko Haram with its drastic tendencies, there have been incidences of terror attacks and other security issues in the area. Murderous Fulani herdsmen have in most cases, been fingered in these occasional onslaughts.
Ebonyi and Enugu have been the hardest hit in these attacks, with Abia, Anambra and Imo having various levels of the ugly experiences. There were for example, recent instances of farmers and market women being attacked and raped by marauding herders in Ebonyi communities. Villages in Enugu have also been invaded. But by far, the most audacious rampage by the herdsmen was when they struck in Ukpabi-Nimbo community of Enugu State on Monday, April 25, 2016, leaving in their trail 50 persons dead and properties destroyed.
Government looks the other way
At such situation and others elsewhere, the government was not known to have done much to rein in the herders. If anything, it had rather turned its eyes the other way, while the marauders converted the entire country to their killing field. This is even, when in the 2014 ‘Global Terrorism Index’ the herdsmen were ranked as the fourth deadliest terror group worldwide. The explanation in some quarters is that the mainstream security agencies are overwhelmed by the regularity of the attacks and requisite personnel to confront the situation.
Vigilante, Forest Guards to the rescue?
Faced with the bloody campaigns of the criminals and the lethargy of the government to act, communities have put up local arrangements to accord security to their people. Umahi confirmed that “we have our State Vigilante and the Forest Guards in all the South East States, who work with the security agencies daily in our various communities for protection of lives and property”.
These may be doing their best in the circumstances. But given the sophistication and thoroughness of the invaders, the vigilante groups have often been caught napping. They consequently limit their operation to settling minor disputes among residents. While this goes on, the invaders surreptitiously take over strategic positions in the region and get the villagers encircled.
Danger not averted
Former Newspaper Editor and erstwhile Enugu State Commissioner for Information, Igbonekwu Ogazimorah, painted a frightening picture of the extent some communities in the state have been, on account of the movement and activities of the invaders, in his social media, Facebook wall, on Monday, February 10, 2020. “Please, has anybody taken notice of the men encamping the various hills and thick bushes surrounding Enugu and environ? In 2019, two of them descended from Ugwu Amenu and chopped off the hand of my town’s boy over cashew seeds. The governor (Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi) even visited there. They are fully entrenched and have established bush cities at Ugwu Onyeama, Ugwu Ikwukwuaki, Ugwu Egede, Ugwu Amenu, Ohia Akwuke, etc. Who are they? What do they do for a living? Are they Cells? Sleeping Cells? At moment, no native dares visit any of the areas. Kidnap victims have narrated their gruesome passages as captives along these spots”, he remarked.
Before this disclosure, there was a televised instance of 35 buses intercepted by military men with over 400 young men and six women on their way to Umuahia, Abia State, some years back. Not much was heard on the outcome of investigation into that encounter, subsequently.
These are among the issues many argue, lend voice to the clamour for a regional security outfit in the South East. Dr. Ikem Onyeka, a security expert, lauds the south east governors for thinking along a regional security outfit, stressing that the agenda should be pursued to a logical conclusion. “I am happy that they are tackling the matter beyond partisan line. This is how it should be. This is subtle form of restructuring and practical federalism. They should not give in to intimidation or blackmail. They should follow the agenda to logical conclusion. Security of life and property is not what should be sacrificed on the altars of political partisanship. I salute their efforts”, he said in a telephone chat with TheNiche.
