
By Ijendu Iheaka
Abia’s Information Commissioner, Dr Eze Chikamnayo has called on Igbos and Abia people in particular to contribute to their communities’ security to avoid being overrun by terrorists.
The Commissioner made the call in Aba on Monday while speaking to newsmen in the commercial hub of the state.
He said that only the contributions of natives through ideas, funding, foot work and collaboration with security agencies can save Southern Nigeria from being overtaken by terrorists.
Chikamnayo said some years ago, the government he served then found some young men of Northern extraction mixed up with non-Nigerians that filled up 35 vehicles traveling at midnight.
He said that the young men when questioned showed they were being moved to a destination they did not know by persons higher than them.
The commissioner said that it is such aimless persons that have taken over the forests in Igboland and have continued to unleash mayhem on innocent travelers and communities.
‘We caught these people at the midnight and we did that Press Conference at the Military base at Ukwa.
“They had 35 Vehicles filled with youths from the North and they didn’t even know their destination.
“When we questioned them, we discovered that they were moving at the command and behest of people beyond their level.
“Their motive is what we are seeing today because I asked a curious question in that video clip way back in 2014. I asked “could this be a build up?
“How come we are having 35 Vehicles moving in the middle of the night without destination?
“But today we have seen these Northerners, some of who are not even Nigerians distilled into communities across Igboland, across the whole of the South.
“And there is no gain saying the fact that when “a bird cries in the night and a child dies in the morning, you have to correlate those two issues.
“The influence of Northerners down in the South here and who have no particular job or mission than the fact that they are well coordinated at the backside of our communities and villages is worrisome”, he said.
He therefore pleaded with Igbo people to go to their communities and assist in fortifying their neighbourhood security systems to save Igboland from the menace of terrorists that have infiltrated forests in the region.
He said that the presence and influence of some criminally-minded Northerners down in the South who have no particular job or mission than a coordinated presence at the backside of Igbo communities is worrisome.
“Let me appeal to our people to return to their villages and contribute to security arrangements by Town Union Leaders, Local Government Chairmen, contribute money, time and personal efforts because it is no longer a laughing matter.
“The Igbo nation is surrounded and our forests are already infiltrated and until we stop shouting and social media hype and go back and take ownership of security in our communities, in collaboration with security agencies, we can’t get it right”, he said.
Chikamnayo thanked Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu whose idea birthed the Umunneochi Security Committee that had dismantled shanties at Lokpanta Cattle Market from where kidnappers launch attacks on travelers and residents.
He described the location of the Lokpanta Cattle Market as “unfortunate” because the action had turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing to Umunneochi local government as it has become the most terrorized LGA in Abia.
He said that the committee’s work was in phases and that the second phase which it is entering into will help clear the security hurdles of the local government.