Saturday, the 13th day of July 2024 passed as a day many in Anambra State will talk about for some time to come, but not because of something good. It was a day the security architecture of the state was seriously called to question. Four separate kidnap incidents occurred that day in what can be called a commando style.
In Awka, two of them happened, with one captured in a video that went viral on the social media. In the said video, two vehicles had blocked another and gun wielding criminals jumped out and commandeered the driver of the vehicle they blocked into one of their own vehicles and drove off. This happened in broad daylight.
Then around 7pm, another kidnap incident took place at Oraukwu Junction in Anaocha LGA in similar style. Just when it was thought the sad news was over, the worst happened in Nimo, Njikoka LGA, where an operator at a filling station there, was blocked as he drove home with one of his attendants at the filling station, a young boy. The boy was shot dead while the man was abducted. This was around 8pm.
The worrying thing was that in all of these four incidents, there was no report of security agencies giving those criminals a chase. Yet, there are several police checkpoints across the state where the police seem more intent on extorting money from motorists than on providing security.
In one of the videos, an anonymous poster berated the Anambra State Government for concentrating all attention on tax collection than on securing the lives of the state’s citizens and residents.
While the man’s assertion may not be entirely true, many are of the view that if the state government devotes much time to solving the insecurity issue in the state as it devotes to tax and revenue collection, things will be much better.
Indeed, one will not fail to see many revenue agents on the roads as one transits within the state. These revenue agents are so many and their tactics too crude that they’ve been accused of causing accidents. In fact the fatal accidents in Oba and Awgbu were attributed to their operation; something the state government will always deny despite eye witness accounts.
It is difficult not to believe the tales of these people. While these revenue agents are very visible, security agents are not, except at checkpoints. It will not be very fair, however, to posit that security agencies in the state are not working. They’ve been doing a good job but most of it has been reactionary, rather than preemptive.
But even then, their response to emergencies has not always been top notch. How could kidnappers operate in broad daylight on three different locations without a report of security agents giving them a hot chase? In one of the videos, the kidnappers zoomed off after abducting their victim, with some of them hanging by the door of their vehicle and brandishing their guns. It was so much so that one would be forgiven for mistaking them as members of the vigilante.
While insecurity is everywhere in the country and the world, Anambra’s case is assuming a notorious dimension. If it is not cult related attacks, it is kidnapping. This isn’t good enough.
The governor of the state prides himself as a Solution Governor but it doesn’t seem as if he’s found a Solution yet to the lingering problem of insecurity. A situation where people are not sure of their safety at any time of the day in peacetime can be quite scary.
We are therefore calling on the Governor of Anambra State to sit up in the area of provision of security. Just as the government deploys massive manpower and resources in collecting taxes and revenue, it should deploy same in providing security.
Soludo must find a SOLUTION to Insecurity in Anambra State. We don’t expect anything less.