I think it’s high time that Imo State residents told the government of the state the kind of security architecture that they prefer to be established in the state. The recent killing of some people in Awommama area of the state has elicited a lot of reactions from everywhere, especially among Imo residents. The rate of disinformation in the aftermath of the killing has taken an alarming proportion.
The Department of State Services (DSS) had owned up to the killing and had equally given reasons why the incident happened. However, even when the DSS had claimed to have carried out the operation, most indigenes and residents of the state, swayed by the opposition to the state government, have stuck to the conviction or belief that the killing was perpetrated by the Ebubeagu security outfit established by the entire governments of the five states in the South East.
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Before the establishment of the Ebubeagu vigilance group, there was so much outcry that the governors of the five states in the east should emulate their counterparts from the South West who established Amotekun. There was so much outcry that the Nigerian security personnel should vacate the trouble spots in the state and that the state government should establish a security outfit just like the Amotekun of the South West.
The only departure or distinction in the agitation of the South East from that of the South West was that those agitating for the withdrawal of Nigerian Soldiers, Police, and DSS from the states wanted the Eastern Security Network, which is the militant arm of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to take charge of all the states in the South East. Whereas, Igboho and his Oduduwa Republic agitators in the South West never opposed the establishment of Amotekun in the southwestern region.
Uzodimma has nothing to gain by destabilizing his senatorial zone and I am one of those who believe that he may not have any hand in the crises ravaging some parts of the state. No governor would prefer to throw his state into turmoil unless the governor is insane. If Uzodimma has an interest in destabilizing the state, he should have done that in the LGAs of his major political opponents for political gains. Should the governor hand over security control to non-state actors by removing all the security personnel in the state? I dare say that if that happens those who are agitating for the removal of the security personnel will not be able to stay in the state for twenty-four hours when these non-state actors take control.
Ifeanyi Maduako, writes from Owerri
