The South East is not yet ready to truly and sincerely fight insecurity in the region. Until there is a methodical and organised State policing system in the mould of Amotekun, Hisbah and other community security apparatchik in the region, What the state governors are doing is just mere tokenism without a robust approach to fighting insecurity. That is why the Eha Amufu intermittent killings, the Ebonyi communal debacle and the unknown gun men menace and other criminalities via genocide will continue within. That is why there will continually be a preponderance of criminalities and semblance of terrorism within the zone. I sometimes wonder what the five SE governors discuss in their meetings. The Police itself as an institution is greatly overwhelmed and cannot do much . Ditto for the military because they are fighting too many battles simultaneously.
Worse still, the SE could not fill the slots allocated to it in the 2023 and 2024 Army recruitment exercise. It might be so in the 2025 Army recruitment exercise despite the abundance of idle and unemployed youths. The GOC 82 Division Enugu voiced out these feelings recently. This should worry the state governors to call for an emergency security summit of former and serving Police, DSS, NSCDC, NDLEA and other security cum intelligence officers & experts from the zone.
Can’t the governors follow the Amotekun model? Why can’t the governors through their acolytes reach out to ESN for a genuine roundtable discourse? All the commanders of Amotekun in the five states in the SW apart from Lagos are all retired Police or DSS officers. This is deliberate and the results and evidence has been massive. Despite Amotekun, the Agbekoyas in Ibadanland and parts of Oke Ogun are still active. They are farmers and artisans with an intelligence flair. You do not enter their community without scrutiny. I saw this first hand in a boundary town called Saki under Oyo state. This area is well known for smuggling but there is cooperation amongst the people once u can speak the language and dress in their ways of life. A newshound is instantly known and monitored .Here, Islam, Christianity and traditional thrive in an atmosphere of conviviality.
In the case of my state- Enugu, there is a potpourri of them. The retired but not tired former IG of Police from Nkanu, IGP Ogbonna Onovo and a battle tested retired former infantry soldier who was in charge of the entire ammunition depot in the North in Kaduna comes handy. I learnt he is an Ambassador cum traditional ruler now- General Christian Ugwu rtd. He is from Akegbe Ugwu and so many others. There is also General Emeka ozoemena from Ihe. There is AVM Ozougwu and AVM Cletus Udeagulu, first class military intelligence officers from Enugu West. There is General Amb Chris Eze rtd and Gen J.O.J Okoloagu rtd from the Nsukka axis( Enugu North). There is also three retired NIA Operatives that am struggling to recall their names. One contested for a senatorial ticket in Enugu North in 2015. They are retired but still agile and not tired. There are also two serving infantry Major Generals in the Army headquarters Abuja from Nsukka zone and so many serving and retired middle level officers who are itching to take action but the government must take the first step.
Invite this people for interactions. The state government must first bite the bullet for the people to be safe. We cannot be on top of the situation when obviously the situation is on top of us. It creates trust deficit. This is not discounting the number of civilian Security and Intelligence experts that are abundant in our region. Agreed that the governor has mounted a technological based platform to fight this menace but it is not enough. Human and Technical intelligence must shake hands in a marriage of credible action to tame this vice before the vice tames us.
In the proposed Enugu Security Summit which the governor should be physically present, the experiences and blue print of these retired and serving officers and security experts will no doubt solidarize any step the governor wishes to take to fight insecurity in the state. The governor of Enugu state is doing brillantly well but he can do more in his state if other state governors in the region are unwilling.
For instance, Make the retired IG or who ever he recommends as the head of the Enugu state General Security Taskforce. Juxtapose the team into the three senatorial zones and cascade them down to the Federal constituencies with commanders . These Commanders must be retired operational DSS , Police or military officers. Take one who knows the Enugu East senatorial zone terrain as head of that zone. Ditto for Enugu West and Enugu North . They must have a reporting line up to the governor who will now compare notes from the daily security briefings from this Taskforce and from the DSs, Police and other formal security networks. Use the Enugu dedicated security trust Fund to ensure that finance is not an obstacle. You should be ready to pay members of this taskforce or security outfit the minimum wage and offer certain perks to their families such as health insurance schemes. You mobilize and train these men and women with passion for intelligence esp some of these thugs you see in and around Enugu state who are indigenes. On one hand, u have reduced unemployment and thuggery. In the other hand , insecurity will tumble down as you act on the briefings.
Again, Infiltrate into the camp of these bandits and terrorists especially using those indigenes who speak fulfude and Hausa languages fluently. They are many of them. Use them . Throw religion into the mix.
I know of so many Igbo youth Muslims from Enugu state. Orientate them and give them a semblance of belonging and you will see results. I was jolted when I saw large number of a particular northern ethnic group speaking Igbo fluently in Nsukka parts of Obollo Afor, Obollo Eke , Ibagwa Aka, Enugu Ezike and an area where we have Enugu state polytechnic . I think it is called Iwollo under Ezeagu. It will take an eagle eye for you to realize that these boys are not Igbo but are going about on reconnaissance mission albeit negative. Who says that one cannot penetrate and mingle with them to get credible intelligence? These issues are quite germane for us to understudy and understand.
We revel so much in Politics at the detriment of our people. Any government that cannot protect its people in their daily businesses and movement from place to place is a quasi failed government. That the FG is tottering on insecurity should not be an excuse for the states to tether to the brink. That is why in my economic proposal to the South East development commission, I explained the inherent need for a viable railway system to transverse the South East with a link to the South South of we are desirous to flourish economically because our people are very itinerant in nature. Economics and security are interwoven. Pls don’t argue about that.
In my Nigeria Defence Academy Kaduna Master in Intelligence and Security Studies(MISS) thesis three years ago on the nexus btw underdevelopment and the emergence of non- state actors in the SE, our time- honoured coded visits to some security prone areas and investigations revealed a troubling trend. The culpability of some traditional rulers with the so called herders who are from a particular ethnic stock in West Africa who believe unfortunately that they are entitled to stay in any land or forest they wish even without a purpose. The system of election of some traditional rulers with questionable and controversial background need to be scrutinized.
After all, Security is local. The present government will also do well through the National Assembly to sign the the Nigeria Forest Security Service(NFSS) bill that must have an armed squad in tow to man some of the porous borders that Enugu has with Kogi, Benue etc. I pray we get it right because fighting insecurity has different models.
Chris Emeka Oha is a Development Economist, Public Communications expert, a Lecturer and Administrator who hovers btw Kaduna, Abuja & Enugu. He can be reached on chrisoha6@gmail.com
