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Umahi to IGP: Remove Ebonyi from Zone 13

Governor Dave Umahi yesterday urged the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mohammed Abubakar, to remove Ebonyi State from Zone 13 Headquarters of the Nigeria Police, in Anambra State. Umahi said the state could not belong to Zone 13 and should be allowed to be in Zone 9, Umuahia, Abia State where it was taken to after being in Zone 6, Calabar, Cross River State. The governor spoke in Abakaliki while inaugurating members of the state community policing committee. Fifty people were recruited from each of the 13 local government areas of the state. Each of them would be paid N30,000 monthly. Umahi added that the state was not ripe to be in Zone 13. According to him, he doesn’t know who smuggled Ebonyi to Zone 13 which “has bad roads, including insecurity”.

He said: “Ebonyi State has not reached the level of being in Zone 13. You must know your level to succeed in life. I moved our people from Calabar to Umuahia, I don’t know who smuggled us to Awka. I have told the IG that we cannot be in Awka. One, the roads, two, insecurity, three, there is so much money around that place and we don’t have money. Let us be in Umuahia and the road is straight forward. So, the best the IG will do for us is to allow us to be in Umuahia. We are in Umuahia and that is where we want to be.” Umahi urged the state Commissioner of Police to strengthen security in the state, saying “police are more active in the day than in the night”. He said: “I am still unimpressed by the security situation in Ebonyi State.

I want to see SARS (the Special Anti- Robbery Squad) in the night the same way I always see them in the day. “Armed robbers came to the International Market and negotiated with the Civil Defence people manning the gate. We captured them in our camera and the seat of that camera is at Akanu Ibiam International Conference Centre. We are working on it and when we finish, it is going to capture all our borders, capture very important locations. “I hope that the CP will quickly arraign the policemen in court and Civil Defence should do quick and dismiss them.” The governor, however, commended the IG for approving community policing in the country. In his remarks, IG, who was represented by DIG Celestine Okoye, Supervising DIG South-East Zone, described community policing as very simple.

He said: “Community policing is going to assist us very well so that we will be able to guard our communities. We have been inundated with lots of problems including civil problems which we are turning to criminal problems. Community policing will address some of these problems.”

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