Ayade unveils Operation Akpakwu to check kidnappings, makes case for Bakassi ex- militants

CROSS River State Governor, Benedict Ayade, has unveiled Operation Akpakwu to checkmate kidnapping and banditry in the state, and charged the Federal Government to include the Bakassi Strike Force ( BSF) ex- militants in the Presidential Amnesty Programme ( PAP).

Inaugurating the outfit, which members were drawn from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Civil Defence, Governor Ayade gave out 100 patrol vans with communication gadgets, 10 power bikes and drones to enhance its operations.

Speaking at the ceremony yesterday, Ayade, who was accompanied by all service commanders in the state, lamented recent incidents of criminality, especially kidnapping, vowed to return the state to the peaceful haven it once was, even as statistics indicated that the state remained one of the safest in the country.

He, therefore, cautioned criminals to relocate from Cross River, saying the state would henceforth be too hot for kidnappers and other criminal elements.

“The instruction is clear from Abuja, we must deal decisively with criminality, banditry, cultism and kidnapping. Let this, therefore, be a strong message to all Cross River people and nonindigenes alike that as far as they are resident in Cross River State, criminality has ended.

“Military officers and the police should comply with the obligations, instructions and orders of the Inspector General of Police ( IGP) and Commander- inChief of the Armed Forces that Cross River State must be safe,” he stated.

Ayade, who blamed the kidnappings and armed robberies in the state on strangers, cited police records of those arrested for crimes, insisting that going forward, all landlords would be made to account for their tenants as part of the regulations, which have been signed into law under the Homeland Security Act. He also declared that with Operation Akpakwu, government would henceforth demolish any property belonging to or occupied by kidnappers and armed robbers.