Bandits, kidnappers hijack agitation in southeast – Gov Umahi

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State on Wednesday decried that bandits, kidnappers and other criminals have hijacked the agitation against marginalisation in the southeast. Governor Umahi, Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, lamented the magnitude of violence which has overtaken peaceful agitations in the southeast.

Governor Umahi highlighted that at the initial time, it was an issue of ‘look, we are being marginalised. He added that a lot of people in the southeast joined the initial agitation.

“Then, along the line, it developed into violence. And then later, the same agitation has been hijacked by criminals, bandits and kidnappers,” Umahi lamented.

The southeast governors had on Tuesday disclosed that the regional security structure, “Ebube Agu”, would be established in the five states of the region before December 2021.

Governor Umahi berated the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for providing a platform for agitation by people who failed to get what they want from the federal government or those in foreign countries who fail to succeed in securing a job or having a successful business. The emphasized that the discontent of stakeholders in the southeast culminated into the emergence and popular support for IPOB, which claimed to be fighting the marginalisation of the southeast.

According Umahi, “A lot of people keyed in.

“If anybody had grievances with the centre, the person became a supporter of IPOB. If you sort anything at the federal level and you fail to get it, you become a supporter of IPOB.

“Those in the diaspora that went for greener pastures, and they failed to get such become very bitter with the Nigerian society. And so, followers kept growing.”

The Ebonyi governor stated that the conflicts with Fulani herdsmen exacerbated the insecurity crisis in the southeast. He admitted that there were lots of killing in the southeast and people felt unsafe and unprotected.

Umahi stated: “They were a couple of killings in the southeast and the people were a bit helpless and felt the governors were not protecting them.” He said the governors did a lot to restore peace between the herders and the locals, but the residents were not satisfied with the interventions of the governors.

“…some uninformed elements felt that the only way to solve the problem between us and herdsmen was to ask them to leave the South-East,” Governor Umahi stated.

He noted that the option to expel the killer herdsmen from the southeast was not nationalistic, adding that people from the southeast also live in the north.

The Ebonyi governor that IPOB suddenly emerged with a militia group, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

“Then came the IPOB with ESN (Eastern Security Network), which is the militant aspect of IPOB, and they started to issue orders of threats,” Governor stated.

The governor lamented that the struggle was hijacked along the line. Umahi stated that kidnappers no longer exist in the southeast, saying that anyone who commits crime in the region claims to be member of IPOB.

Governor Umahi further said that politicians took advantage of the insecurity and “began to import killers from outside the southeast to advance their political interests.”

He said that people are understanding what is happening, and that popular support for IPOB is declining because of the perennial violence in the southeast.