Southeast insecurity: ‘It’s time for govt’s intervention’

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma took the request to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu in Abuja.

It was a follow-up to the meeting of the region’s leaders in Abuja on Monday, where they resolved to meet with the President and seek the Federal Government’s support.

Uzodinma said the leadership of the region had seen the need to lean on the federal government to solve the security crisis.

The Southeast has for years been suffering a regular Monday sit-at-home enforced by criminals who attack markets, destroy properties and kill those who they accuse of violating the directive.

Last week, goods and properties were destroyed by enforcers of a week-long sit-at-home declared factional leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Simon Ekpa.

This newspaper’s distribution van and consignment were once destroyed in Imo by hoodlums on a Monday.

Uzodimma said: “I visited the President on behalf of the people of Southeast of the country.

“A few days ago, we had a meeting of the leadership of Southeast political and non-political leaders, in conjunction with the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

“Among the resolutions from that meeting was to visit Mr. President to support and intervene in our resolve in addressing the issue of insecurities.

“The leadership of the zone agreed that working with the forum of governors from the Southeast, we will come to Mr. President to formally request his intervention and additional support from the Federal Government to ensure that there is peace in the Southeastern part of the country.

“The people of Southeast believe in the unity of the country and that’s an integral part of the Nigerian project also needs serious attention in terms of provision of security for our people to go about their businesses.”

Obi blames criminals for sit-at-home

Also yesterday, Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the February 25 election, Peter Obi, described the insecurity in the Southeast region as ‘criminal activity’.

According to him, the sit-at-home directive in the Southeast remains the handiwork of a criminal enterprise.

Obi, in a statement posted on his official Twitter page, said the sit-at-home orders had been denied by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

He, however, called on security agencies to take urgent steps to deal with the heightened insecurity and crime across the country.

Obi said: “The situation in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State has raised a lot of anxiety because of the number of lives and properties lost with very little resistance from security operatives.

“Also disturbing is the continued disruption of business and social activities in the Southeast region over the sit-at-home directive purported to be coming from IPOB, when the body has publicly denied issuing such directive.

“What is going on in the Southeast, therefore, is essentially a criminal activity that must be nipped in the bud, with all hands being on deck, security agencies, and the people alike.

“The Southeast governors are to be commended for their renewed efforts at curbing this menace but there is a need to be more strategic and intelligence-driven in our approach to reducing the suffering of innocent people.

“Security agencies should take necessary and quick steps to arrest the ugly incidents because the country cannot just be spilling the blood of innocent citizens.

“We as a people through our various governments should up our value for human lives in the way and manner we respond to issues that touch lives.

“The implications of an insecure environment for development are far-reaching because no investor will consider going to an area where their resources will not be safe and secured.”

He also lamented the killings in Benue and Plateau and called for a more strategic approach to stop the mayhem.

The presidential candidate urged critical stakeholders and leaders of traditional, Christian, and Muslim groups to continue pushing for peace among their people in the way they conducted themselves.

Obi said it was unacceptable that hundreds of innocent lives would continue to be wasted in the country needlessly through communal clashes, bandits, and kidnapping activities.

He added: “The violent attacks in the Northcentral states of Benue and Plateau lately took a new twist with high records of kidnapping, arson, and loss of human lives. According to the First Quarter Mass Atrocities Casualty Tracking Report, over 1230 Nigerians were killed, 79 of them security operatives, with over 600 abductions in the first quarter of this year alone.

“With what has been happening in the Northcentral and Zamfara State lately, the figure as of today will be mind-boggling even far more than the deaths recorded in Russia/Ukraine ongoing carnage.

“It’s unacceptable that hundreds of innocent lives will continue to be wasted in Nigeria needlessly through communal clashes, bandits, and kidnapping activities.”