ANAMBRA

Yet again, the insecurity in Anambra State claimed three precious lives last week. The deceased who were members of the crew of Supersport were killed when their vehicle ran into an ambush by gunmen at Iseke, a border town of Ihiala Local Government Area to Orlu, Imo State. Luckily, security operatives rescued six members of the crew, while one is yet to be accounted for, according to reports in the media. The dead were identified as a cameraman, police officer and driver.

They were on their way to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State to cover the AFCON qualifying match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and their Libyan counterpart, when the gunmen struck. This incident occurred on October 8, 2024, about three days before the October 11 AFCON qualifier, which the Nigerian side won by a lone goal.

This latest attack once more brought to the front burner, the terrifying level of insecurity in Anambra State under the administration of Governor Charles Soludo. Four days before the Iseke incident involving the Supersport crew, the police foiled an attempt to kidnap a foreign expatriate working for a construction company at Ogbunka, Orumba South LGA. The expatriate, a Syrian national narrowly escaped abduction, but two of his police guards were shot by the gunmen. The police spokesman in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga who confirmed this report in a statement, said the injured policemen were in stable condition.

Two days prior to the Ogbunka incident, unidentified gunmen killed two policemen at Uruagu Nnewi community in Nnewi North LGA of the State. According to media reports, the attackers hurled an impoverished explosive device at the police team and it exploded immediately, killing the two policemen instantly at the spot.

Between August and September, gunmen attacked three police stations in Anambra State, namely the Divisional Police Station Oba and Nnobi Police Station, both in Idemili South LGA and Nnewi Police Station. The attacks claimed the lives of policemen. Last year, nine members of a United Nations entourage, including policemen, were brutally murdered by gunmen at Ogbaru LG while on a visit to an erosion site in the area.

Besides the remote areas, the insecurity in Anambra State extended to Awka, the capital city and its adjoining communities, which have all become hotbeds for bloody clashes between rival cult groups.

In Awka in particular, people are lynched, maimed, butchered and killed in broad daylight. While the media reports some of these gory incidents, many go unreported.

Some people would argue though that insecurity is a national malady. However, the situation in the state has assumed a very dangerous dimension that some parts of the State are now being called Sambisa, after the Sambisa Forest, the main base of the Boko Haram insurgents in the North East.

More worrisome is that the Soludo administration appears to have been overwhelmed by the insecurity, which is currently rocking the state like a volcanic eruption. Rather than confront the seismic security situation bedeviling his domain, Governor Soludo, the Chief Security Officer of Anambra State who receives almost one billion Naira monthly as security vote, keeps looking for a scapegoat to blame for the insecurity in the state.

In February this year, he said that the fight against insecurity in the state has been hindered by the infiltration of vigilante operatives by criminals. To me, such an excuse, coming from a Governor who took an oath to strive to preserve the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, contained in Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), sounds ridiculous. Under the aforementioned chapter, Section 14 (2) (b) clearly states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government;”

Therefore, it is the duty of the government to safeguard lives and property in Anambra State and not the vigilante operatives who are not recognized by the Nigerian law. If Professor Soludo has lost confidence in the vigilante operatives, the constitutionally recognised security apparatuses of the Nigerian State, such as the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and even the Military, are at his disposal.

The excuse that criminals infiltrated the vigilante operatives cannot be an alibi for the Governor’s inability to secure the state. The vigilante operatives are meant to complement the efforts of the security agencies of the Nigerian State who are better trained and equipped in handling security matters. So, what’s the fuss about the infiltration of the vigilante groups?

Soludo should please swallow his pride and learn from his nearby counterparts, Peter Mba of Enugu State and Alex Otti of Abia State who have both exhibited the political will and capacity to confront the security challenges on ground when they assumed office. In Enugu for instance, Mba has empowered the police and the military with the necessary equipment, including vehicles, operational and communication gadgets, drones and other advanced technology, needed to confront the insecurity in Enugu State. Surveillance cameras have been mounted all over the Enugu capital city, to monitor the movement of people and vehicles in the city.

To attract both indigenous and foreign investors, security is very paramount. The efforts of Governor Peter Mba in the area of security have started yielding results with the influx of investors into Enugu State, to revamp moribund industries, such as the Sunrise Flour Mills Enugu and Enugu United Palm Products Limited, Ibite Olo, Ezeagu LGA.

Unfortunately, rather than pay attention to the insecurity plaguing Anambra State, which his government used as an excuse for delaying local government election, Soludo appears to be obsessed with how to control the allocation coming to the 21 LGAs of the state from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee. Having been obligated by the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to conduct local government election, which he failed to do for over two and half years, he introduced a bill in the Anambra State House of Assembly, to compel the 21 councils to remit a portion of their allocation to a consolidated account controlled by the State Government. In spite of public outcry, the House of Assembly passed the bill, which is now awaiting the Governor’s assent. This is ludicrous, considering the fact that the Supreme Court granted the councils financial autonomy.

Quoting former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, “the lack of local government autonomy potentially inhibits solutions as well as efforts by the federal and state governments towards addressing the nation’s security challenges.” This statement made by Lawan in an interview with State House Correspondents in Abuja in May last year, aptly corroborates scientific evidence from a research paper published in the International Journal of Public Administration and Management, Volume 6. No. 4, 2021. Ubi and Akie in the paper titled, “Local Government System and Escalation of Insecurity in Nigeria, concluded that if the local government system functions at full capacity, rural people will be empowered, rural urban migration curbed, local economy enhanced, youths provided with direct and indirect jobs, and thus, they will not be given to crime, which triggers insecurity.”

I therefore expect Professor Soludo to live up to his billing as a distinguished Professor of Economics and a consummate public servant, having served at different times as the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, and the de facto Minister of National Planning. He should quickly re-order his priorities by making the insecurity one of the focal points of his administration.

In conclusion, Soludo should allow the councils to enjoy the autonomy that they were granted by the Supreme Court, to enable them to perform optimally. A functional local government will help to end the alarming insecurity in Anambra State.

Dr Nzomiwu is a communication scholar, media consultant and political scientist