Group demands posting of Police chief of Igbo extraction to curb insecurity in south east

An advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Thursday requested the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to post Igbo-born senior police officers to Enugu and other states in the southeast as police commissioners just as it is done in other zones, especially, the South West and North West.

HURIWA also wants the Chief of Army Staff to post ranking Igbo-born officer among the top Commanders in the South East so Igbo speaking people will have a sense of belonging. The group argued most key Military Commanders posted to the South East are always from North West and are persons with toxic minds about the Igbo speaking people, thus, have failed to contain insecurity in the zone.

HURIWA said it is inconceivable that a top-ranking religious leader like the immediate past Prelate of Methodist Church Nishop Samuel Kanu Uche could be kidnapped and he gave blow by blow account of how soldiers of Moslem affinity coordinate kidnappings around the Enugu/Okigwe Federal Highway, but till now not one of those soldiers manning the military checkpoints near where he was kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen turned terrorists, have been interdiction and punished.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, said a son of the soil will police the state efficiently as non-indigenes have failed over the years and months to stem the tide of kidnap and the heinous activities of ‘unknown gunmen’ who are overrunning the south-east.

The group said in the spirit of community policing, the Nigeria Police Force and the Defence Headquarters should deploy commanders and other top brass who understands the landscape of each geopolitical zone, the language of the people, their mannerisms, socio-cultural differences, amongst others to their peculiar localities, arguing that this is how to effectively curtail crimes.

According to reports, HURIWA noted, the new Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 13, AIG Abutu Yaro, expressed satisfaction with the robust support the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in Enugu State, gave to the police since May 2015.

AIG Yaro also applauded Governor Ugwuanyi for the remarkable efforts of his administration in enhancing the security architecture of Enugu State through community policing mechanisms such as the formation and operation of the Neighbourhood Watch and Forest Guard, stressing that they are “very functional and effective.”

Similarly, the new General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Umar Musa, recently said the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, expressed profound appreciation to Governor Ugwuanyi for his immense support and cooperation with the Nigerian Army in the effective discharge of its responsibilities in the state and beyond.

Onwubiko declared: “It is creditable that both the police and the military hierarchies have lauded Governor Ugwuanyi’s unalloyed support to security agencies. But the Army and the police chiefs need to tell all the good people of Enugu why insecurity still persists in the state, especially kidnapping-for-ransom and invasion of villages as well as killings of Igbos by armed Fulani terrorists.

“The kidnapping of the Prelate, Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence Samuel Kanu Uche; a former Secretary to the Enugu State Government, Dan Shere; students of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, amongst others are still fresh in the mind of Enugu people. How about the many herdsmen attacks on Enugu people with the latest having occurred last weekend in Agu-Amede, Mgbuji and Umujiovu-Eboh communities in Eha-Amufu, in the Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu, where three people were killed, bringing the total number of villagers’ killings by suspected herdsmen to 20 in the communities?

“HURIWA demands the posting of Igbo-born commissioner of police to Enugu State and GOC of Southern origin to 82 div because the current GOC is totally not in tune with the demands of defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria since he allows both foreign and local armed Fulani terrorists to keep attacking parts of South East.”