ANAMBRA, SOLUDO AND SECURITY CHALLENGES

Anambra State, like many states in Nigeria today, has been enmeshed in serious security challenges. Since the middle of 2021, there has been an increase in protests and demonstrations in Southeast Nigeria part of which was the Mondays “Sit at Home” protests coupled with several attacks and targeted killings, especially of law enforcement personnel.

Hoodlums and criminal elements described as “unknown gunmen” have continued to wreak havoc in Anambra and its environs. These marauders have been burning down public buildings, killing, maiming, and thoughtlessly kidnapping scores of innocent citizens. The height being the gruesome murder and beheading of Hon. Okechukwu Okoye, member representing Aguata II State Constituency in Anambra State House of Assembly.

Number one priority of any government should be security. Security includes protection of societal fabric, and safety of citizens’ lives and property. The state should protect people against malicious threats and guarantee a secure environment. Security LV FULWLFDO EHFDXVH LW DͿHFWV DOO DVSHFWV RI economic and social development. Security is a sine-qua-non to the realisation of human rights. Peace and security are often used to imply a synergy or complementary condition that is absent, when violence DQG FRQÁLFW SHUYDGH D VRFLHW\ $FFRUGLQJ to the revered Nelson Mandela, safety and security do not just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment.

Accordingly, quality of security provided is a deliberate choice by the state. Prof. Chukwuma Soludo at his inauguration as Governor on March 17, 2022, pledged that eradicating insecurity in Anambra was going to be top priority of his government.

Towards the realisation of this, he made moves to settle warring factions, RͿHUHG DPQHVW\ WR UHSHQWDQW SURVFULEHG Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) PHPEHUV DQG PDGH RͿHUV WR XQLWH DOO stakeholders to foster developments.

He went on to declare full-scale battle against the so-called unknown gunmen and other criminal elements. He put together a Joint Security Taskforce comprising the Nigerian Army, Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), and local Vigilantes to rid the state of these undesirable elements. These security measures put in place by his administration have been recording some measures of success, especially within Anambra South Senatorial Zone where there is dusk to dawn restrictions in most Local Government Areas.

Several nefarious camps within the area alleged to be belonging to these killers are said to have been destroyed. $QDPEUD 3ROLFH 3XEOLF 5HODWLRQV 2΀FHU DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, recently in an interview said that the Joint Security Task force is making rapid progress. According to him about nine shrines used by these gunmen and arsonists to force natives into oath taking have also been destroyed and such natives, who act as informants to the gunmen under police custody.

Ostensibly, in the face of, these successes recorded by the Joint Security Taskforce, LW ZRXOG EH GL΀FXOW WR FULWLFLVH WKHLU operations. However, restoration of peace and security should not be an end in itself, rather a means to an end. There must be due process and ethical rules of engagement. Operations of these security agencies must be transparent. Any case of extra-judicial killing must be investigated, and appropriate punishment meted out to any perpetrator no matter how highly placed. This is the only way to safeguard SXEOLF FRQÀGHQFH LQ WKHLU RSHUDWLRQV

These agencies must adopt security delivery by consent. They should derive WKHLU OHJLWLPDF\ WKURXJK SXEOLF FRQÀGHQFH rather than sheer brute force. Well-meaning individuals and citizens should only be frightened of hoodlums and not security taskforces created by the state and funded by taxpayers’ money. If the government and its security agencies cannot be criticised for avoidable deaths then, what is the point of democracy? The pains and anger resulting from the extra-judicial killing of RQH 8FKHQQD 8GRK $NDQND LQ $EDWHWH on Monday June 20, 2022, by members of the Anambra State Joint Security Taskforce based at Ogidi is still very palpable in Abatete community. It was said that the \RXQJ 8GR ZDV GUHVVHG LQ EODFN DWWLUH DQG looked like an unknown gunman. He was chased by the members of the Taskforce and he ran for almost half a kilometer for his dear life. He was said to have run into someone’s premises and lay prostrate before the security team caught up with him and fatally shot him.

This has since provoked anger and pain in his friends, family, compatriots and indeed any person with a feel of humanity. The question is why fatally shoot an unarmed person, who is already lying prostrate? Is the Joint Security Taskforce’s modus operandi shoot to kill or shoot to maim or shoot to put out of action? This also raises concern about the training, doctrine and professionalism of members of the Joint Security Taskforce. Indeed, Soludo should hear about this and take necessary action to restore the damaged faith and FRQÀGHQFH RI V\PSDWKLVHUV DQG ZHOO wishers. There should also be propitiation and compensation for this singular killing. It is still early in the day for Soludo, as his administration would mark only 100 days LQ R΀FH E\ 6DWXUGD\ -XQH