Commissioner of Police, Imo State, Mr Abutu Yaro, has said that the state has bounced back and is safe again for investors and others to do business: “When I resumed on May 6, 2021, the Imolites were in bondage. The Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali, gave me a directive that we should fish out all the criminal elements and restore normalcy to the state. In tandem with the directive we executed this mandate holistically.
“The morale was down and I started building on the confidence of our men. Let me just say I met a state of absolute despondency and chaos and the situation was terrible. I can say the security level was at its lowest level so much so that a lot of strategic thinking and policy re-engineering were basically injected.
“And I think that the major platform flank of our policy review was to actually drawn from some of the security stimulations we did at the National Defence College in 2020, when we did a one year course on policy and strategic studies. I think the ingredients of that course formed the greatest inputs that helped us bring the situation to what we have today.
“The command was able to stabilise the polity saying this was made possible because of the knowledge he gained as a student of policy and strategic studies at the National Defence College.
“With the knowledge received at the National Defence College, you will not find it difficult to surmount the situation like the one I met in Imo State. That underscores the essence of strategic leadership studies that is an existential element of plan strategic leadership.
“Imagine one was studying the situation, looking at the critical elements and then define centre of gravity and breaking the centre of gravity into pieces. Thereafter, the other elements became scattered, confused and neutralised. That is just it. Identification of critical targets and neutralising them was the major bulk of our tactical option and it paid off.
“Our strategy was not strategy of return of arms or surrendering the struggle. The strategy was decimating the centre of gravity of the violent campaigns. So we did a critical study of their strategic leadership and those people who were actually the threshold of the organisation. And we identified them and neutralised them. Finish, it is taking battle to the enemy.
“No negotiation, no proclamation, it was just battle engagements and we had to redefine our superiority in battle and that was what happened. Our battle was not a general battle, it was with pinpoint and security officers taken out the criminals’ strategic leaders, weakened the centre of gravity and dominated the area.”
He called on citizens and inhabitants of the state who fled when the security situation was bad to return home: “There is peace and tranquillity now. All those who are at home, those who are abroad and those who are within Nigeria but outside the state, should be assured that the template has been reset, peace and stability has returned.
“Imo is ready for business and Owerri is bubbling again. Tourism investors and other interested parties are encouraged to come back and revive their old engagements and create new opportunities and have a new beginning.
“And this is the best time for any investment in this environment. The people have been in abeyance and they have been liberated so the quench for consumption of any good and services is now at its peak.
