Recently, at a meeting with traditional rulers in the state, Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, made the startling revelation that many members of the community vigilantes had sworn oaths with criminals in their communities, a development, he said, was responsible for the difficulty in dealing a fatal blow to criminals, especially in areas still ravaged by violent agitation.
Soludo’s statement is a very weighty one which the various community leaderships in the state should seriously mull over. This has been necessitated by the seeming inability of the state government and security agencies to comprehensively contain the insecurity in the state. It does appear that the more efforts are put in, the more the menace grows. But the revelation by Soludo has perhaps given more light as to why it has been difficult to stamp out the menace.
There is nothing as frustrating as one’s efforts being scuppered by those who are supposed to help, as in the expose given by Soludo. But we believe this situation arises where vigilantes come from same area and become familiar with everyone,
This is why the various communities should consider hiring security personnel from outside. The benefits of this are that they will not owe their allegiance to anyone except those that hired them and they will also not be attached to anyone.
For instance, it will be difficult for an uncle who is a member of a village vigilante to arrest his nephew, if the latter commits any crime, because, as they say, blood is thicker than water. In the same vein, a young man who is a member of a vigilante will also find it difficult to arrest his friend who commits a crime.
It is in such situations that familiarity with one another is exploited by parties involved to forge bonds that may not be germane to the health of the community security wise. Thus, the situation where members of the vigilante go and take oaths with some community members may arise.
But when members of the vigilante are brought in from outside, the above kind of situation will be averted. This is so because in Igbo culture, it is considered sacrilegious for one to shed one’s own blood. That is why another look should be taken at the use of home grown vigilante members by communities and the government.
Security is not something to be toyed with and the right thing has to be done now on this matter.
