Ebonyi State government has decried as sinister and mischievous a communiqué by Southeast Zonal Working Committee of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), wherein the party attacked the resolutions reached by Southeast governors in Owerri on April 11, 2021 on the establishment of Ebube Agu security outfit.
In a statement to The Guardian, Ebonyi State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Orji Uchenna Orji, said the communiqué signed by one Elochukwu Okereke as the Zonal Publicity Secretary of PDP, fell below acceptable standards of civility and social norms.
Southeast PDP had faulted Southeast Governors for not being sincere in their resolve to establish a joint security outfit, alleging that the governors’ action was self-serving and face-saving.
But, the Ebonyi Information Commissioner stated: “The content of the publication and the context of their argument unfortunately exposes the inadequacies of the reasoning faculties of their political think-tank and the incompetence of the present crop of Southeast Zonal Working Committee members.
“The arguments canvassed in their substantive paragraphs denote a body of political operators, who have little or no information about precedents and practice of governance structure and systems in a federal system of government.
“We are deeply disappointed, but not surprised over the failure and inability of PDP Southeast Zonal Working Committee to understand and dissect the clear and unambiguous resolutions reached by Southeast Governors and stakeholders during their Security Summit of April 11, 2021 in Owerri, Imo State.”
Orji maintained that Southeast Governors’ 15-point communiqué was clear on their resolution for states to maintain a joint security vigilante to be called Ebube Agu Joint Security Network, whose coordination and intelligence would be headquartered in Enugu.
Orji extolled the state governor, Dave Umahi, for his people-oriented administrative style, dismissing “the cowardly and untoward accusations by PDP elements that the peace-loving youths of Ebonyi State are being formed into “militia,” just because they enrolled as members of Southeast Security outfit.”
While urging all stakeholders in the zone’s security engagements and the public to discountenance PDP’s communiqué of May 1, 2021 as a worthless distraction, the Information Commissioner said the focus and collective resolve of all and sundry are needed to secure a peaceful, safe and prosperous state.
The commissioner further explained: “This resolution cannot in any way waive or vitiate the legislative powers of the federating states and the inherent powers of states to recruit or provide the membership of Ebube Agu from among the youths of their respective states, which they are already exercising in different tempo and stages, especially the necessary legislations, the recruitment and the funding processes for Ebube Agu.
“We want to assure PDP elements in Ebonyi State who are hiding under the cloak of PDP South East Working Committee to blackmail the state government that their rejection by the good people of Ebonyi State is unwavering, as the current PDP in the state parades a group of people who do not mean well for the state.”
