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The leadership of Enugu State House of Assembly have called on Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to urgently take steps to tackle worsening insecurity in the state.
In a motion for urgent public importance moved by the member representing Oji River State Constituency, Chief Jeff Mbah, at a plenary session, yesterday, the House asked Ugwuanyi to setup and equip a joint Military, Police, Forest Guard, and Neighbourhood Watch to tackle the menace.
Mbah further recounted incidences of violent crimes which were committed in various communities in recent times, especially the gruesome murder of a former Commissioner, Gab Onuzulike, and his brother at Oji River.
He said: ‘Mr. Speaker, honourable colleagues, the surge in insecurity in Enugu State has called for urgent and decisive action. Unfortunately, notwithstanding the known enormous hard earned resources that His Excellency, the Governor of Enugu State has applied to ensure the safety of the lives and properties of the good people of Enugu State, the unthinkable continues to happen.
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‘The recent gruesome murder of the former Commissioner of Rural Development, Enugu State, Ozo Gab Onuzulike, in Oji River, alongside his elder brother, the killings in Igbo-Eze North and Isi Uzo LGA are, umpteenth times, in such reports. If nothing drastic is done, there is every tendency that the fear of insecurity might deter many from coming home for Christmas and New Year and even to engage in other social activities without molestation.’
Leader of the House, Ikechukwu Ezugwu, while condemning the spate of crime and criminality in the state, said that, ‘what obtained in Afghanistan many years ago is what is happening in Enugu State’. He pointed out that ownership of small arms and weapons by youths in the communities gave rise to the crime.
In his own contribution, the member representing Nkanu West Constituency, Iloabuchi Aniagu, suggested that as a panacea to the insecurity problem, everyone should arm himself. Aniagu condemned the mopping up of arms, saying that, instead, the wealthy ones should procure more arms for the less privileged to tackle the insecurity head on.
‘What we are into is more than speaking grammar; we are in serious trouble. We need to talk to our people. We need to protect ourselves. Enugu is under siege. God is no longer protecting us. We should give our people arms to protect themselves.’
He also said that many hoodlums are hiding under the IPOB to cause havoc in the land and should not be allowed to ride unchallenged.
