New Telegraph

FG must decentralise police force –Ohanaeze

Pan-Igbo socio cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has reiterated its call for the decentralisation of police force in Nigeria. Reacting to the Wednesday’s attack on Prof Charles Soludo, the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, told Saturday Telegraph in an exclusive interview that the group is perturbed by the rising insecurity in South East and Anambra State where attack on security personnel and civilians had become a daily routine.

Ohanaeze also deplored the recent massacre of innocent persons in three Ebonyi communities by alleged herders, while stressing that the nation was heading to a dangerous cul-de-sac with proliferation of arms in the hands of non – state actors, with the federal government appearing unable to stem the tide.

“The instrument of violence is supposed to reside in the government, that is how it is supposed to be, but when by way of unnecessary indulgence to Fulani herdsmen, you make guns available to everybody then it will come to a tipping point that it becomes a disaster to the whole nation. It’s not in the interest of anybody.

“The attack on Soludo is sad and it is still part of what we are talking about. You know the government unwittingly has made it possible for guns to replicate everywhere and because of that nobody is safe anymore. “The case of Anambra has been very perturbing, for about over two weeks now, remember that at a point soldiers were killed; at a point the President General of Omor was murdered in cold blood and so on and so forth, it is very disturbing and then the federal government cannot rise to the occasion, it is very unfortunate. “That is why we are talking about decentralising the police force by making it possible for each state to have control over the security architecture.

People who understand the topography, culture and social life of the people should manage the security affairs of the state. ‘‘Not somebody from Sokoto or Maiduguri posted to Omor when he understands little or nothing about the language, culture or topography of the people and you expect him to secure the people of Omor, it doesn’t work.

“These are the kind of issues that perturb us here in Nigeria but most unfortunately after saying it they don’t listen to us. I think we have come to a point we have been able to drag ourselves to a cul-de-sac, a point where people are now realizing that every other day while some people are talking about development, we are talking about loss of human life and things like that.

It is very unfortunate and it doesn’t portend anything good for anybody,” he said. On the massacre of more than 15 persons in three Ebonyi communities, the Ohanaeze spokesperson referred to his earlier statement where the body “condemned the senseless gruesome murder of innocent citizens across Igbo Land by the AK-47 wielding Fulani herdsmen.”

Read Previous

Attacks prelude to genocide, says ex-DIG, Okoye

Read Next

APC sues for peace and unity

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *