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An Igbo socio-cultural group, Igbo Bu Ofu, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the South East Governors to overhaul the entire security architecture in the South East to stem the tide of growing kidnappings and killings in the region.
The group in a strongly worded statement Friday said that consequent upon that all the heads of military and Police Command and formations should immediately be transferred out of the zone.
Insecurity in the South East has risen to an all-time high and some communities in the Enugu, Anambra and Imo States are leaving their places to avoid being slaughtered by the heartless perpetrators of this heinous crime.
In Anambra state, some areas especially in the Southern and some parts of Central Senatorial zones are no-go areas as kidnappers and criminals have taken over.
However, some personnel of security outfits especially the military and the Police have been accused of being behind the insecurity in the South East as some of them are said to be working in concert with Fulani Herdsmen and Bandits in their kidnapping and killing spree.
Prominent persons said Igbo Bu Ofu in the statement signed by their leader Ichie Agu-di-ebube Ikemba said that victims of the Fulani Herdsmen especially the former Prelate of Methodist Church of Nigeria, who was kidnapped at Isuochi, Abia State.
Dr Dan Shere, former Secretary to the Enugu State Government who was kidnapped at Ugwogo, Nike-Road, had also said that Fulani Herdsmen were working in concert with the military in their kidnapping activities in the Zone.
The group accused the Federal Government and the Military High Command of openly having soft spot for the bandits and the killer Herdsmen, noting that the Federal Government recruit the so-called repentant Boko Haram members into security outfits, while the Nigerian Army and other security personnel allegedly provide cover for these criminals.
They said in the hypocrisy of the Federal Government and security outfits they call killer Herdsmen herders and reduce their killings and kidnapping of other Nigerians as mere farmers/herders clash, focusing all their operations on IPOB and Eastern Security Network (ESN).
However, the group noted that although while not holding brief for ESN, the group was a response to the massive and mindless killings by these Fulani Herdsmen with the active support of the security personnel.
They said ESN went out of control by forming Unknown Gun Men which now also engage in kidnapping, killings, rapping, idolatry and other criminal activities.
The group equally blamed governors of the South East who sponsor insecurity in their respective States because of their selfish political ambition, saying that if the security situation in the South East is not urgently addressed by stakeholders, a time will come when nobody would be spared.
But the Igbo group listed poor governance which has resulted in gross unemployment, poverty and hunger as the cause of the proliferation of non-state actors in the insecurity in the South East.
The group, therefore, accused Fulani Herdsmen, bandits, non-state actors like Eastern Security Network (ESN), Government Security operatives and local criminals as the cause of insecurity in the South East of the country because they could not control their men hence some engaged in criminal activities
They said both Federal and State Governments should commence the payment of stipends up to about N50,000.00 to young but unemployed persons as a way out of the current travail.
Igbo Bu Ofu also said that those criminals who want to drop their guns and live in the bush should be granted amnesty if they have genuine repentance, unlike the Boko haram elements.
The group equally suggested the introduction of the Community Identification Number (CIN) to the citizens as a way of checking the increasing insecurity in the zone. AGU DI EBUBE cautioned