From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
Chairman of Afikpo South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Chief Eni Uduma-Chima, has advised 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 had become a tool for harassment and intimidation of opposition by the state government. But the council chairman said the Ebubeagu outfit was duly set up by the law of the State Assembly to assist the 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”, noted 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 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 to sabotage the political standing of. David Umahi.
“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.”