Insecurity: Igbo chieftain fault southeast govs on ESN, IPOB

By Kingsley Chukwuka

The delay of establishing a security outfit for the southeastern region, has prompted the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to have floated what it called Eastern Security Network, (ESN), to protect the forests and bushes in the South-East against the destructive Fulani herdsmen and other criminal elements, says an Igbo chieftain in Jos, Dr. Faith Onyema.

Onyema who is also an Igbo Chief and the leader of Igbo natives in Jos South local government area of Plateau State, said although the governors did not welcome the idea of ESN, IPOB claims that the outfit has started guarding the forests and bushes in the South-East.

The question is; when will the South- East governors come with the much needed regional security outfit to secure the region in the face of the growing state of insecurity in the country?, Onyema asked.

The Igbo leader said if the governors had copied from their counterparts in the Southwest when they formed the Amotekun, the proscribed IPOB would not have gone ahead to form the ESN.

He said however the issues of banditry and herdsmen invasion, is also as a result of the federal government failure to address the menace, adding that the FG is playing politics and favoritism with the growing trend.

“There is compromise, if not why would insecurity overwhelm the government. FG is attaching sentiment to the issue of herdsmen”, the Igbo leader said.

For now, most communities in the South-East region live in perpetual fear as a result of the rising and worrisome activities of the Fulani herdsmen and other criminal elements. This has heightened the call for the region to set up its security outfit to protect lives and property, our correspondent reports.