No fewer than 17 buildings have been marked for demolition in Uli community, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State.
According to the state police command, the buildings have been harbouring criminals and gunmen, disturbing the peace of the state.
As a consequence, a heavy deployment of officers including men of the police and the Nigerian Army has been detached in the area to commence surveillance in the four villages that make up the community, to restore peace and security.
The state Commissioner of Police, Echeng Echeng, disclosed this during the Uli Peace and Security Summit/Convention on Saturday.
Echeng, who was represented by the Police Area Commander of Ihiala, ACP Bassey Christopher, tagged the security operations in the community as ‘Action all the way’.
He said, “Any building harbouring criminals and gunmen would be demolished and about 17 of them have already been marked for demolition and we are not going to spare anyone or any building irrespective of who the owner is.
“This Peace and Security Summit and Convention is the last chance for the criminals to leave Uli town and after this meeting, it is ‘Operation action all the way’ and we advise the landlords that own those buildings to chase those criminals out of their homes.
“Already we have taken delivery of all the apparatus for this operation and I want to assure you all that before the end of next month the difference would be clear in terms of the security of lives and property.”
The Commissioner for Homeland Matters, Chief Chikaodi Anaghara, also stated that in line with the laws of the land, any building that has been demolished belongs to the state government and the owner or the landlord has lost that property.
“In line with the Anambra State laws any building that has been demolished belongs to the government and the former owner or landlord has lost ownership of that land and he cannot lay claim to it or want to go back to rebuild the house.
“It is bad and totally unacceptable to this government to condole the activities of criminals in our villages and if you want amnesty, it is going to be structured amnesty and it must start with the respective communities.
“A criminal is a criminal and we have zero tolerance to going to negotiate with criminals and be informed that this meeting has given those people the opportunity to lay down their arms now because it is going to total action now.
“When criminals go and kidnap a soldier or policemen that have family and kill him, they should not expect pity,” Anaghara added.
In his address at the Summit, the President General of Uli Progressive Union, Mr Tobias Obiagazie begged for amnesty for the youths that would volunteer to lay down their arms.
“It is our request, Mr Governor that you consider the option of granting amnesty to those who will voluntarily drop their arms to embrace peace.
“A rehabilitation programme similar to that of the Niger Delta will go a long way to restoring lasting peace to our town in particular and the state in general.
“Our teaming youths have been victims of long neglect, effective youth empowerment programme will therefore be an antidote to this insecurity. The community would collaborate with you and the state government towards achieving this,” he added.
