IKENNA OBIANERI writes on gunmen in Anambra State as they continue to unleash terror and plant anarchy in the state despite the olive branch extended by the state Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, who assumed office on March 17
The South-East, particularly Anambra State, has come under a series of attacks in the hands of hoodlums identified as “unknown gunmen.” In recent weeks, the activities of these unscrupulous elements, hiding under the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra’s agitations in carrying out their dastard acts, have assumed a dangerous dimension. Worse still is that prominent leaders of the region have refused to publicly condemn the activities of these hoodlums for fear of being attacked. Businesses of both the government and individuals, academic activities, and others have been badly affected owing to a “sit-at-home” order.
The IPOB had introduced the “sit-at-home” in the South-East in 2021 to express its displeasure regarding the continuous detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and as a strategy to press home the Biafra agitation. However, it has become an activity that has cost the region billions due to economic disruption. The group ensured that no activity took place on the restricted days for the sit-at-home to enforce the order. People seen as defying the order have had their business premises, vehicles, and tricycles burnt down and many people killed.
However, the security agencies have only been assuring the people to ignore the “sit-at-home” order and go about their normal businesses without putting any security measures to safeguard the people.
When the news filtered in last week that a three-day long sit-at-home, beginning from Monday, had been announced in the South-East, tension heightened as two conflicting signals came from the IPOB camp. While one camp stated specifically that May 18 and 26, 2022, would be sit-at-home days, being the days Kanu would appear in court, a viral voice note purportedly from another IPOB camp stated May 16, 17, 18, and 26, which declared three days this week.
Between Monday to Wednesday, the rampaging gunmen wreaked havoc in the state, attacked public utilities, killed over three security operatives, and kidnapped the lawmaker representing Aguata North in the state House of Assembly, Dr. Okechukwu Okoye. The hoodlums also set the Idemili North Local Government secretariat in Ogidi, a magistrate court on the premises, and over 32 vehicles ablaze.
These criminal elements proceeded to the District office of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc. and set it ablaze. The Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, estimated the cost of damages as running into multimillion naira. Ezeh said the incident caused a “great setback to the efforts being made by the company to strengthen its network and improve the quality of service to its customers within Ogidi and Anambra State at large.”
In what looked like coordinated attacks, the group, in another separate attack, invaded a military checkpoint at the 3-3 Estate in Nkwelle Ezunaka, near Onitsha, where they opened fire on the security operatives, thereby killing two soldiers.
The spate of attacks by these “unknown gunmen” in the state came less than three days after Soludo had visited the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, at the DSS custody. With the attacks perpetrated by these hoodlums, a big question has been left on the lips of everybody, and it is, who and what exactly are they agitating for?
A security expert in the state, Retired Col. Chidi Ogamdi, said security requires a strategic and intelligent approach, which, according to him, the relevant agencies had failed to adopt, thereby heightening the security concerns in the state.
Having observed what insecurity and the “sit-at-home” had caused to the state, Soludo, who made Security one of his top priorities, matched words with action in his inaugural speech on March 17, when he told the agitators to come to the roundtable and embrace dialogue to seek an end to the killings and disturbances.
The governor challenged the agitators to come out from their hiding places and drop their guns and key into the empowerment programme the government had planned for them. He told them that failure to embrace the peace initiative would leave the government without a choice but to start taking decisive actions as their “agitations” have become “misplaced” and “criminalised”.
On the first week in office, Soludo, through the Secretary to the State Government, Solo Chukwulobelu, issued a memo to the state civil servants directing them to start reporting to duty on Mondays, saying,,, that serious sanctions awaited anyone that did not comply. The governor also directed all market leaders in the state to open their various markets on Mondays, and the market leader that failed to comply would be removed.
Despite all these state directives, the markets remained shut every Monday. The traders feared being attacked, as the gunmen had threatened the day before, leaving traders and residents in a dilemma of who to obey.
The government set up the “Truth, Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Committee” in April, headed by the former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, with the mandate to restore peace and tranquility in the state and possibly in the entire South East region. The committee was majorly saddled with identifying the remote and immediate causes of the agitations, restiveness, violence, and armed struggle in the South East since 1999.
Nonetheless, the committee, with Charles Oputa and Onyeka Onwenu as members, seems to be dead on arrival. There is nothing on the ground to suggest its operational existence, and they did not disclose its operational base.
Despite the efforts put in place by the state government to cancel the sit-at-home, which has caused violent activities, there were meetings with critical stakeholders and the Anambra State traditional rulers and clerics of various denominations. There was a special prayer session on Monday, yet, the sit-at-home continues, with the gunmen now ensuring even stricter enforcement and compliance.
The hoodlums raided and set ablaze the Aguata local government secretariat, the governor’s hometown, the secretariat at Nnewi, and two police stations, all in April. On his visit to the scene the following day, the governor lamented the cost of damages. He wondered why a group of people would choose to attack a collective property.
Apart from the attack on the public utilities, the hoodlums have also carried out attacks on security operatives at checkpoints, with some killed in Aguata and the recent one being the killing of two security operatives at the Agulu military checkpoint. The civilians are not left out as relaxation spots have also become targets for attacks, and people are killed with recklessness.
The Monday sit-at-home also led to the killing of two brothers on May 2, at the Umuhu community in Ukpor, Nnewi South Local Government Area, where they were shot dead for violating the order. Also, on the same day, a policeman and one other person were shot dead in the Ozubulu area.
Another attack was also carried out on a beer parlour in Nnewi, where about five people, including the joint owner, were shot dead on April 30. There have also been a series of kidnappings that have been left unattended.
The police command only confirmed all these without any tangible effort to arrest the situation practically.
The gunmen have continued to hold the government and the people hostage, with its enforced sit-at-home order, despite the various deliberate efforts aimed at cancelling it, the effect being the attacks the state has experienced within the week on its facilities and personnel.
Research and findings have also shown that these attacks have always come each time the governor makes a public pronouncement or threat on the group.
IPOB, through its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, had dissociated the IPOB from the criminal elements disturbing the peace of the land, describing them as “dissidents and traitors” and not Biafra agitators.
Powerful, therefore, re-emphasised that IPOB has cancelled the sit-at-home, saying that anybody seen enforcing it should be arrested and prosecuted, a challenge he threw to the security agencies. Still, the security operatives have visibly remained silent and inactive.
These gunmen have exhibited massive effrontery and boldness in their nefarious activities. A recent example is a list the anonymous group released to the public on Tuesday, which contained about 10 local government areas for attack anytime soon.
Although, in a press statement on Wednesday, the state government dismissed their threats and assured the people of adequate safety as they went about their lawful activities.
This, therefore, brings to the question of who is winning the war in Anambra?
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Christian Aburime, clarified that the state government, in collaboration with critical stakeholders, had been synergising its efforts at tackling the problem in a strategic form. He corroborated Powerful that the hoodlums perpetrating attacks in the state were not Biafra agitators but criminal elements hiding under the Biafra agitations.
He said, “The state government is winning the war. These anonymous gunmen are not Biafra agitators, and they are criminals. Nobody will kill or attack people in the name of agitation.
“It is not true that the state government does not fix engagements on Monday. Don’t forget that a directive was issued that workers must be reporting for duty on Mondays. Since then, there has been over 70% compliance, and the reason is that it is psychological, some people, out of fear, still stay away.”
On the Truth, Peace, and Justice Committee, Aburime said the committee had met on some occasions where they extensively discussed the issue of security.
The State Police Spokesman, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, in his reaction, maintained that the police operatives were doing a lot in terms of strategy and intelligence gathering to contain the excesses of the gunmen. Ikenga lamented that despite the assurances by the police that the people should go about their lawful businesses and ignore the IPOB sit-at-home order, the people have remained adamant.
It’s been over 60 days since the assumption of office of Prof. Soludo’s administration on March 17. For an administration that came in with so many promises and expectations, one would have thought that the enthusiasm and actions exhibited in the first week of the administration would have quickly translated into nipping the situation in the bud.
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