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From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
The Federal Government has been urged to urgently put apparatus in place to authorise the 36 states to set up their own police structure.
Eze Nzenwata Mbakwe said the fear that state governors will use the local security forces to harass, intimidate and hound the opposition and their political enemies have no bearing in view of the rampaging menace and killings, instead they would have helped to checkmate such menace when in place.
He said the call had become necessary in view of the continued upsurge in the number of unwarranted security challenges being faced in various states and council areas in the country.
Mbakwe, member of the nation’s Traditional Rulers Advisory Council, said the current situation, where local security matters are left in the hands of federal agencies and directing their leadership in the states to take directives only from their national headquarters, was wrong in view of evolving sophisticated trends and weaponry being used in banditry, terrorism and kidnapping by assailants.
“I want to renew my earlier call on the Federal Government to enact enabling laws to allow states have their own police to fight the security challenges in their areas.
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“It is a known fact that our military alongside the federal police have been overwhelmed by the upsurge in the activities of bandits, kidnappers and rustlers nationwide and it is time for the states to get involved as it is in other climes.
“Local communities know people that live and interact with them and would easily identify infiltrators and criminals on arrival, and are in better positions to fish them out and quash any planned crime before its execution.”
On the attainment of 65 years of independence by Nigeria, the foremost royal father, regretted that instead of working in synergy for the realisation of the dreams of the country’s founding fathers, today’s leaders were busy amassing wealth and fanning ethnicity and hatred.
He called for a rethink, stressing that the electoral process be reorganised to appoint non-partisan and non-tribalistic individuals with conscience, as chairman and members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He commended Gov Alex Otti, for his positive development strides in Abia State, especially in the areas of roads, education and primary health facilities rehabilitation, citing the recently commissioned Port Harcourt and Ohanku Roads, among others in Aba, as well as the Umuahia/Uzuakoli/Ohafia/Arochukwu Road, and the popular Omenuko Bridge in Ozu Aba, along the Umuahia/Bende/Ohafia federal highway as dividends of democracy.
