From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
Chairman of Afikpo South local government area of Ebonyi state, Chief Eni Uduma-Chima, has warned the People’s Democratic party (PDP) to stop playing politics with issues of security.
Ebonyi PDP House of Representatives members recently called for the disbandment of the state chapter of the South East regional security network known as Ebubeagu, alleging that it has become a tool for harassment and intimidation of opposition by the state government.
But the council boss in a reaction said the Ebubeagu outfit was duly set up by the law of the state assembly to assist police and other security agencies in tackling security challenges.
Uduma Chima who stated this in a statement titled ‘only the guilty are afraid of Ebubeagu’ ,stated that the outfit has helped in curbing insecurity in the state.
He said “I have observed the biased basis of the baseless motion by some dormant members of the House of Representatives on alleged insecurity in Ebonyi State.
“This infamous quintet have never sponsored any meaningful bill or participated in any worthwhile debate on the floor of the House, only to wake up from their inactivity to attempt setting fire on the security infrastructure of Ebonyi State in a bid to play the script authored in Lagos to sabotage the political standing of Engr. Dr. David Umahi.
“It is unfortunate that the PDP National Assembly members of Ebonyi State extraction have chosen to play politics with the efforts of the State Government to curb insecurity bordering on communal clashes, farmers/herdsmen clashes, kidnapping and other violent crimes in Ebonyi State, by criticising ‘Ebubeagu’, the State Vigilante Outfit.
“Ebubeagu is a creation of an existing law duly passed by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly and its mandate of complementing the Nigeria Police Force and other law enforcement agencies in securing lives and properties are well spelt out in the enabling law”
“The truth is that the vigilante group underwent diligent training in the use of arms which in all cases are limited to duly authorised pump action rifles.
“The group does not have any detention facility as it hands over any person suspected of committing an offence to the nearest police man or police station for investigation”, he added.
“If there is any substance in the litany of allegations catalogued by Igariwey and his fellow misrepresentatives, one would expect them to make formal complaints to the police or even to the DSS against the suspects involved, rather than pushing for the proscription of a group which is part of the solution to the rife insecurity in different parts of Nigeria”