When it was thought that Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State had got the hang of tackling insecurity in the state, some daredevil criminals shocked many Nigerians by continuing in their heinous crime. Media reports indicate that gunmen ambushed and attacked the convoy of the senator representing Anambra South, Ifeanyi Ubah, at Enugwu-Ukwu in Njikoka Local Government Area of the state on September 11, 2022.
At the end of the operation, three civilians and two policemen were gruesomely gunned down. Two of the civilians were aides to Senator Ubah while the third person, identified as Onowu Nri, was a Lagos-based businessman. He was said to have driven to Enugwu-Ukwu from his community, Nri, to drop someone who visited him when he ran into the ambush. Two other police officers are receiving treatment from injuries sustained during the attack. Senator Ubah escaped because he was in a bullet-proof vehicle. It is not certain yet if this attack was an assassination attempt or something else.
Last year, gunmen made life unbearable for the citizens of Anambra State. The majority of their victims were security agents. In early 2021, they invaded the Civic Centre, Isuofia, where Soludo was addressing youths of his community. Although the governor miraculously escaped death, three of his police orderlies were not that lucky. They were killed.
Also last year, Dr. Chike Akunyili, the husband of the former Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and former Minister of Information, the late Professor Dora Akunyili, was waylaid and killed at Nkpor near Onitsha in Anambra. The assailants also killed his driver, orderly and five others.
The attacks heightened soon after Soludo was sworn in as the governor of the state earlier in the year. In May, for instance, Soludo’s kinsman and lawmaker representing Aguata II Constituency in the state House of Assembly, Hon. Okechukwu Okoye, and his aide, Mr. Ulaevuchukwu Chiegboka, were abducted after attending a meeting in their village. They were eventually decapitated. There are many other examples.
The recent attack on Ubah came less than a week after the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave assurance that the worse of insecurity was over in the country. “Never again will terrorists and bandits and their cohorts hold sway in our country,” he boasted. From every indication, it appears the worse is not over.
Unfortunately, these attacks have only succeeded in scaring away potential investors. Some prominent citizens of the state living abroad are also scared of visiting their country homes. Some cultural events, like traditional marriages, which ordinarily are done in the ancestral homes of the brides, are now celebrated in the cities outside the state. The major fear now is that these attacks may affect campaigns for the general election coming up early next year as people may not want to attend political rallies.
It is pertinent to note that the state government has not relented in its efforts to rout the criminal elements in the state. A few months ago, security men raided some hideouts of the gunmen in the state. They killed some of them during shootout and arrested some others.
Besides, a few months ago, Soludo inaugurated truth, peace and justice committee to seek ways of restoring peace and tranquility in the state/South-East. It is expected that the committee, headed by Professor Chidi Odinkalu, will proffer solutions to the problem.
While we condemn the recent brutal attacks on innocent citizens, we urge the police to explore all options in unraveling those behind the crime. They should see this as a challenge that must be tackled. Nothing should be left to chance in investigating what happened.
Corporate bodies can also assist in efforts to tackle the challenge. This is no longer something that should be left to the government alone to solve. Citizens of the state have a duty to expose those behind these crimes. Those criminals live among the people. Some of them are known. It is the duty of the citizens to volunteer information regarding bad elements in their midst. Luckily, the state government had released some phone numbers through which people can report suspicious characters and actions.
There is also the need for a regional action in the South-East. The South-East governors set up Ebube Agu security outfit last year. But it has been quite ineffective. Apart from probably Imo and Ebonyi States where their activities have been controversial, Ebube Agu appears to be moribund in the other South-East states.
Anambra State Government and other South-East governments should strengthen the vigilance groups in their states and make them a formidable force that could counter the gunmen. These vigilance groups should collaborate and share intelligence with the police and other security agencies.
This spate of insecurity is a serious setback to our democracy. What happened to Ubah and others could happen to anybody. And not everyone can afford a bullet-proof vehicle like Ubah. We must all resolve to tackle it headlong because if not checked, the attacks may bolster the criminals to do more.