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Ozo Jeff Nweke Doing What Government is not doing

By Jude Atupulazi

Save for the security summit earlier convened by the member representing Awka South 11 Constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon Nigeria Henry Mbachu, it appeared that no one in Awka Town was concerned about the terrifying security situation in the capital city. Not even the state government of Prof Chukwuma Soludo seemed concerned and it was as though the citizenry had been left to their own devices as kidnapping and cultism ravaged the city.

On August 21, 2024, however, a ray of hope that things would not continue to go bad was seen as an Awka High Chief, Ozo Jeff Nweke, convened a stakeholders meeting at Emmaus House, Awka to find ways of tackling the scourge of criminality that is threatening to stifle social and economic life in the city.

For long, it had always been felt that the scourge of cultism in Awka which has continued to snuff the life out of many Awka youths could only be stopped by Awka people, who, it is felt, know the root of the matter. Many would have therefore heaved a sigh of relief when Ozo Nweke came out smoking to agree that they knew those behind the scourge and went ahead to proffer solutions to it.

At the stakeholders meeting were security egg heads from the Police, Civil Defence and the Department of State Services (DSS). Sadly, despite being invited, neither the state governor nor any of his aides was at the meeting and none was represented; a development that cast doubts about the sincerity of the State Government in seeing an end to insecurity in the state.

Ozo Jeff Nweke 3rd from right, and other stakeholders at the security meeting in Awka

Speaking at the meeting, Ozo Nweke himself regretted the absence of anyone from the state government, while decrying the seeming intractable wave of cultism and other violent crimes in the capital city. He noted that the development had claimed the lives of several youths in the town.

Speaking in his opening remarks at the security meeting with the theme: “Combating/Preventing Violent Crimes and Menace of Cultism in Awka Metropolitan City”, which he sponsored for his Ezinano Quarter of Awka, made up of 20 villages out of the 33 villages in the capital city, Ozor Nweke who is a security expert and proprietor of a security company, Blue Shield, averred that cultism and other violent crimes had engulfed Awka since the town was made a state capital and contended that since the era, the people had been deviating from their value system.

He said that unlike before, the youth were no longer hardworking, parents no longer had a strong, controlling influence on their children’s behaviour, with Awka people now taking the lives of fellow Awka brothers without any qualms.

‘Land grabbing and disputes among individuals, family members, and villages have become a way of life, and elders no longer play their traditional roles as peace agents.

‘Our people are known to be hard-working; we are not known for killing each other. But today many of our families have lost between two or three of their youths to cultism and other violent crimes.

‘Our youths are killing each other. And we know those who are doing the killings. The security officers are doing their best but we want them to cooperate with us. We know those who are doing the killings and that is why we have gathered here today to discuss and find ways.

‘The security agencies can collaborate with us to flush out cultism and other violent crimes in Awka,’ Ozor Nweke stated.

He pledged his readiness to mobilise the people of his Ezinato Community along with the involvement of security agencies to purge the area of cultism and other violent crimes.

Noting that violent crimes had no place in Awka, he however said that beyond rejecting such, solutions should be offered and cited the lack of employment of opportunities to the youths of the town as the chief cause of crimes.

Indeed, while lack of employment is no excuse for crime, the stark reality in Nigeria today is that crimes will continue to rise as long as the economic hardship persists. Some youths, especially, cannot resist derailing in order to fend for themselves. In this case, killing or incarcerating them may not solve the problem but for government to initiate policies aimed at redirecting their focus and reforming them.

To this, Ozo Nweke concurred that arresting Awka youths involved in crime would not present a lasting solution.

He said the acquisition of their lands had altered the way they lived and left many people without any tangible means of survival and thus pushing some people into crime, especially the youths.

‘As much as we’re rejecting this trend, if you don’t know how it started you cannot solve it,’ Ozo Nweke said, noting that Awka was not like this before.

‘Why are our children killing each other? If we don’t solve this problem by ourselves I don’t know who’s going to solve them,’ he said, noting that it had come to a situation where the people had to defend themselves.

Insisting that Awka people knew those perpetrating the crime, he said, ‘Those behind the chaos are our sons and brothers, we know them. We won’t dissociate ourselves from them and that’s why we’re succeeding.’

He therefore said that rather than arresting and dealing with them, which, he noted, he as not against, efforts should be made to rather rehabilitate them in order to be better citizens in the future.

In their respective lectures at the symposium, officials of the Anambra State Police Command; Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); and State Security Service (SSS), identified various factors responsible for the menace of cultism and other violent crimes in the capital city and stated that the cooperation of members of respective communities was crucial for the security agencies to fight criminality in their midst.

He regretted that the town, despite donating their lands to the Anambra State Government for development purposes, the owners of the lands had neither been adequately compensated nor provided alternative means of livelihood.

I hail Ozo Nweke for speaking out when many from the town are keeping mum. It is now left for those concerned to heed his advice.

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