The Chidi Ibe-led faction of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, on Monday, charged the Southeast governors to understudy the security blueprint of a former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, to check rising insecurity in the zone.
Ibe, a factional President of Ohaneze, who spoke to defence correspondents in Abuja, was reacting to the establishment of a Southeast security outfit recently launched by the governors of the zone.
- Imo attacks: I’ve left Uzodinma in the court of public opinion – Okorocha
- Police probe murder of woman by hoodlums in Lagos
He stressed that the former governor was able to set up a formidable security structure that involved traditional rulers, town union heads, youths and other stakeholders at the grassroots level.
According to him, the approach during the last administration in Imo State helped in securing the state, noting that what is required to nip in the bud, the current security challenge in the zone is a collaboration among stakeholders.
“The Southeast governors should have engaged their predecessors in finding a lasting solution to the recent wave of insecurity in the zone, instead of announcing a security outfit just to do like their counterparts.
“They should understudy and adopt the security blueprint of the former Imo governor, Rochas Okorocha, where everyone was assigned a role to play in securing the state.
“The belief is that those behind the insecurity live among the people and can be fished out by the people,” he said.
The Ohaneze chieftain insisted that the creation of a regional security outfit by the Southeast governors was only tantamount to copying from other zones, saying they forgot that each of the zones had peculiar security challenges that required peculiar approaches.
Similarly, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Joachim Nzeh, enjoined the Southeast Governors’ Forum to research the measures and strategies implemented by Imo State under Okorocha-led administration, “which invariably helped to reduce incidents of crime in Imo State from 2011 to 2019”.
