A chieftain of Labour Party (LP), Valentine Ozigbo has accused Anambra State government of treating security challenges in the state with kid gloves.
He said government had continued to wallow in self denial, deceit and defence amidst glaring killings, kidnapping, cultism and other criminality across the state.
Speaking at the Awka City Security Summit organised by a member of State House of Assembly, Hon Henry Mbachu representing Awka North and South, Ozigbo regretted that government had not treated the challenge as emergency.
He said: “If you want to solve any problem, identifying the problem is already half solved. But when you lie, deny or simply deal with the symptoms without the root cause, you’ve failed.
“Today we’re here because of the incessant banditry, killings, kidnapping and cultism that have taken lives, with statistics of 34 lives lost in just one month.
“There’s no sense of urgency of having an emergency situation, that’s living in denial. And when some of us speak up on the need for more attention to be accorded to security and consequences of lack of attention, some will go into denying, lying and defending themselves. It’s unfortunate.
“I’m here to urge the government of Anambra State to take full account of the fact that security is our number one problem. It’s not roads like some of the aides are saying which have questions in themselves.
“I’ve gone through many gatherings of our people in diaspora and they keep asking me what we are doing about insecurity because they are afraid of coming home. Those who summon courage to visit, keep hiding and moving around with tricycle.”
While commending the convener, for the initiative, Ozigbo urged other lawmakers, regardless of political affiliations to organise similar summit at their constituents.
“I’m happy the summit have several experts who will do justice to the topic and I’m optimistic that their recommendations will be taken serious by the government and higher echelon of the security agencies. But in the event of failure, we’ll get them out and I’ll come in to get the right things done,” he added.
Senator representing Anambra Central, Chief Victor Umeh described the summit as a step in the right direction, expressing optimism of a fruitful outcome.
“Killing is not our culture. We’re solidly behind you, life has no duplicate and there’s no gain in cultism. Awka is blessed by God, especially for being the capital. We should not be known for crime.
“The people themselves should take the bull by the horn. We must bring peace and calmness back to the town so residents and visitors alike can visit and development is assured,” he posited.
Earlier, convener of the summit, Mbachu said the summit was informed by growing cases of crimes and criminality, particularly cultism as well as finding solutions to the vices.
He said he had prioritised youth employment on assumption of office but had to adjust the priority following spate of killings in his constituency.
“We have 56 gates and more than 18 vigilante groups. We have people in the military, yet insecurity has been on the increase. We’re having records of death of young fathers. I can tell you that the people that have pursued us away are not up to 100.
“Yes, urbanisation comes with its vices, but we’re not the only town that is urbanised. When I entered the house, my priority was employment, but it has to change to insecurity in order to tackle it head-on.
“I’ve traveled to 11 states to consult people on way out. I’m happy many are here. We’ll take the communique to the Governor to ensure lasting peace in our community.”
