S’East Govs Float Joint Vigilante Security Outfit To Tackle Insecurity
Southeast governors held their first security summit on Sunday, April 11 and threw their weight behind efforts by the Nigerian Government to fight terrorism and banditry.
Governors of the five Southeast states in Nigeria concluded their first security summit with a resolution to be with the Nigerian Government in its resolve to address the insecurity challenges in the country.
They have named a joint security vigilante for the Southeast; EbubeAgu, with its headquarters in Enugu State to coordinate security operations in the Southeast.
The governors in a communique issued on Sunday, April 11 at the end of the security summit held in Owerri, Imo State capital, said they would stand with the federal government to fight terrorists and bandits to a finish.
The summit comes on the heels of coordinated attacks on Monday, April 5 in Owerri at the Correctional Facility and Police Headquarters by members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) during which over a thousand inmates were freed and arms and ammunition carted away from the police armoury.
In the 15-point document obtained by HumAngle, the governors comprising those of the Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, and Anambra states condemned terrorism and banditry ravaging many parts of Nigeria, particularly in the Southeast.
“The meeting strongly condemns the burning of police stations, violent attacks on custodial centres with the unlawful release of inmates, and the killings including security personnel, natives/ farmers and headsmen,” they said.
They agreed to work together “as one united zone, to fight and flush out criminals and terrorists from the zone.”
On intelligence gathering and sharing, they said that all the heads of security agencies in the Southeast have resolved to exchange intelligence in a seamless, effective new order that would help to checkmate crime in the zone.
They also set up a committee of security personnel, government officials, and relevant stakeholders to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the Southeast joint security platform.
While calling on the Inspector General of Police to stop the influx of IGP monitoring units into the Southeast, the governors appealed to the Police chief to allow Commissioners of Police and state and Zonal commands to handle their cases.
They also agreed that the acting IGP and other security chiefs should invite the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo and the Christain Association of Nigeria (CAN) to find out the reason for increasing insecurity of the Southeast.
On open grazing, they concluded that open grazing has been banned and security agencies should implement the ban.
They, however, encouraged a peaceful coexistence of farmers and headers to allow governors to succeed in the fight against criminality.
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