From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The leadership of the Unified Nigerian Youth Forum (UNYF) on Tuesday expressed worry over the spate of killings, kidnapping and wanton destruction of public infrastructure in the South-eastern part of the country in recent times.
The Forum, which was reacting to media reports that 48 people, including 4 policemen, were killed in eight states between Friday last week and early Sunday morning, condemned the acts and called on the actors involved to retreat in the interest of the country.
President of the Forum, Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem, in a statement, lamented that bloody attacks recorded in eight states within three days was emblematic of how widespread insecurity in Nigeria is, “excluding those kidnapped across the six Geo-political zones within the same period”.
He noted, “the South-Eastern region has been engulfed with serious insecurity activities most of which are been carried out by some unknown gunmen with the support of the faceless Eastern Security Network. the act is baseless and lacks respect for constituted authority.
“Again in less than 24 hours, it was reported and confirmed that a police station and INEC office were burnt for no tangible reason. Such attacks are not the first in recent times in the region.
“Specifically, the spate of attacks in Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Akwa Ibom and Abia states in recent times had once again called for serious concerns by all and sundry given our peculiar history, political orientation and the dynamics of our federation. Burning private and public properties in the region and other untoward acts in the region have thrown up the greater need for all of us to be more retrospective, introspective and proactive on the issue of our common interests.
“This is the right time for all leaders of thought from the region to meet and sincerely discuss and act firmly on the current happenings in their region and by extension to the entire country. This is important because those people burning police stations and INEC offices in different states of the region are from within.
“We saw it coming that after attacking police stations, correctional centres and other public/private properties and critical infrastructure, they would go out of control to destroy communities.
“If not check now, they might turn the region to a war zone like what we are witnessing in North East today and make life unbearable for the masses in the area”, he warned.