2023 polls: Ebonyi under siege – CSOs

A coalition of civil society organisations, Civil Society Committee for Anti-fraud Election Security, CISCAES, has frowned at the high rate of insecurity in Ebonyi State.

The group made the observation during a press conference in Enugu State.

It alleged that the situation in Ebonyi was occasioned by the state Governor, Engr. David Umahi, who they accused of using the Ebubeagu security outfit to intimidate and harass the citizenry and political opponents.

Track News reports that the Ebubeagu was recently declared illegal by a Federal High Court sitting in Ebonyi.

At the press conference tagged, “a critical media briefing and national press conference on the Worrisome State of Insecurity in Ebonyi State and its Dangerous Consequences Before, During and After the 2023 General Elections,” the National Coordinator of CISCAES, Comrade Kennedy Iyere described Umahi as a dictator and emperor who is intolerant of the opposition.

Iyere alleged that Umahi is bent on imposing a candidate of his choice on Ebonyians using the outlawed Ebubeagu security outfit in the forthcoming elections.

He said that despite the fact that a high court disbanded the Ebubeagu, Umahi quickly recruited the same group made up of people from various states, including Northerners to terrorise and harass the opposition.

Iyere, who also accused the Governor of building a terror group in Ebonyi State, said that Ebonyi State is now highly volatile.

Describing the state as the most insecure in the entire South East region, Iyere said that even the church is highly politicised and the leaders are even afraid to make statements for the fear of the governor’s action.

“The governor,” he said, “has made himself an emperor and a supreme leader. He wants to impose a candidate on the people by all means,” Iyere said.

He narrated how he narrowly escaped death from a hotel in Ebonyi State, prompting the relocation to Enugu for the press conference.

He called on the Federal Government to focus their searchlight on the activities of the Ebubeagu in Ebonyi State with a view to ensuring a peaceful and hitch-free polls.

Iyere, however, urged the people of the South-East to come out and exercise their franchise for candidates of their choice