South-East Governors Raise Alarm, Say Killings Beyond IPOB

Southeast governors and leaders have raised the alarm that insecurity and killings in the region have gone beyond IPOB/ESN because criminals find it easy to hide under the group to commit crimes.

This was in a statement signed by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi and Chairman of the South-east Governors Forum, after a virtual meeting with his colleagues.

While warning the criminals to desist from hiding under the Eastern Security Network (ESN) to perpetrate attacks, the governors asked youths to be more productive.

The statement read in part: “We condemn in strong terms the video clip and write-up we saw in some social and print media where two policemen were said to have been killed and their heads cut-off and eat by youths who styled themselves as members of IPOB/ESN.

“We have resolved among ourselves to work with security agencies to determine the authenticity of this video/report and if found to be true, to apprehend the perpetrators by all possible means to face the law.

“We are aware of similar videos in the past and which when subjected to forensic review were found out to have happened outside Nigeria. We assure Nigerians especially the Police community that we will not rest until we have done justice to this matter.

“We resolved to be very committed in our fight against hard drugs in our region especially the new one called Methamphetamine, locally known in South East as Mkpurumiri.

“We warn all criminals who have styled themselves as IPOB/ESN to kill our people to immediately stop. We are aware that the insecurity and killings in South East have gone beyond IPOB/ESN as any criminal finds it easy to hide under such a name to commit crimes.”

The governors, however, commended the youths, saying, “We thank all our youths for the relative peace we enjoy in South East now. We are committed to your welfare. We want those who were misled to carry arms against our people and security agencies to surrender their arms to the Governors and get rehabilitated back to society.

Speaking on security, they said:  “We are determined to do everything to protect the lives and properties of our people. Our youths are advised to leverage on the various empowerment and agricultural programmes by our Governors to better their lives.”

The governors also spoke on what the youths are clamoring for, they said: “On the issue of agitation by the youths, we are reviewing the work of Ohaneze Ndigbo committees on this matter and will soon call a larger stakeholders’ meeting to address such.

“All issues relating to the agitation and its fallout are better settled politically and on a negotiation table and we thank the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – President Buhari GCFR for his consideration of a political solution to this problem. He has demonstrated that he is a good father who listens to his children.

“We urge our people to resume their Monday businesses as we assure them of adequate security. We thank all our security agencies for their commitment to securing the lives and properties of our people in the South East and we assure them of our continued support as they discharge their duties.”