From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
The new Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), zone 9 Kanayo Uzuegbu has vowed to raid all the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) hideouts in South East.
Uzuegbu said the police have known all the inclinations of the separatist group and have identified all their hideouts in the zone.
He stated this in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State police command during his working visit to the command.
He declared that the police will wage war against the group.
“IPOB involvement in the South East is tied up. We know most of their inclinations, we will go against them. I will raid all of them, carry our war against any of them.
“I would like to say that all those thoughts of IPOB exist only in our imagination, the mind of people who are firefighters”, he said.
He urged the policemen in the state command to be ethical in their jobs, warning that he will not tolerate unethical conduct from them.
“Our police job, the law was established by the constitution, we have a fundamental duty. The unethical conduct is not allowed, you have to do your job as stipulated by law. It has to be done by fact, not by fancy.
” I will tutor the police against that. I will try to put my heart in order and ensure that things are done very well.
“I want to let you know that you have to do your job as stipulated by law.It has to be done by fact, not by fancy”, he said
Uzuegbu explained that he was in Ebonyi State to interface with men of the police command and build their capacity.
” I came here to interface with our policemen, to build their capacity, to build their confidence. When I build up this, they will do more. We are doing a very magic though’.
The state Commissioner of Police, Adaku Uche-Anya said the command was blessed with officers who’ are brave and dedicated who have been working diligently to address various crime patterns with professionalism and competence.
She identified prevalent crimes in the state as cultism, communal clashes, murder, boundary disputes, and activities related to separatist groups (IPOB).
“The Command has thoroughly analyzed these crime trends and adopted proactive strategies to combat them through community policing, high visibility policing, intelligence-led policing, and extensive raids on criminal hideouts and hotspots.
“Since I assumed duty as the 27th Commissioner of Police on September 17, 2024, I have built upon existing strategies to address security challenges in the state.
” I visited the thirteen local government areas in the state, engaged with chairpersons, critical stakeholders, other members of the communities and gathered firsthand information about their challenges and effective ways to police their communities and this has yielded dividends.
“We have successfully addressed various security challenges in the state through stakeholder dialogue. This approach has been instrumental in managing the communal issues, land and boundary disputes in different communities in the state.
“In anticipation of communal issues that arise during the farming season, we have used stakeholder dialogues to address and resolve brewing or lingering issues in various communities around the state.
“We engaged key stakeholders from Ekpaomaka and Inyimagu communities in Ikwo LGA and this engagement helped us arrest principal actors and others fanning the embers of communal crisis in that area”, she stated.