From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Traditional rulers in Delta State have directed various communities to urgently activate their local security apparatus in order to be prepared to ward off any form of threat to peace and security in their areas of jurisdiction.
This is coming one week after an anonymous letter titled: ‘Fulani Jihadist Warning: An Open Message of 2 Paragraphs to Delta State’ threatened attacks on the state if Governor Ifeanyi Okowa failed to withdraw his support for the ban on open grazing within 72 hours.
Rising from their monthly meeting in Asaba, the monarchs under the aegis of Delta State Council of Traditional Rulers, appealed to residents to be more vigilant and security conscious in view of the threat.
In a four-point communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the royal fathers condemned the threat in its entirety, and restated their earlier support for the ban on open grazing in the southern part of the country by the 17 governors of the states in the region.
Chairman of the counil and Obi of Owa, Dr. Emmanuel Efeizomor II, who read the communiqué, tasked security agencies not to treat the purported threat with levity, but extend their dragnets to all nooks and crannies with a view to nipping unwholesome activities of criminal elements in the bud.
While decrying the heightened insecurity across the country, Efeizomor called on federal authorities to take the issue of security seriously, to avert a drift into anarchy.
He noted that the Delta State Government had done a lot to ensure the protection of lives of residents in the state, and called on the Federal Government to be more decisive in handling security challenges facing the country.
The communiqué urged Governor Okowa not to relent in bringing more dividends of democracy to Deltans.