By Jude Michael
A former Governorship Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2021 election in Anambra State, Mr Valentine Ozigbo, has commiserated with the families and surviving victims of the Nibo killings last Sunday, even as he says it is a pointer to how poor the security architecture of the state is.
It will be recalled that about 12 people lost their lives in Nibo, Awka South LGA, during the celebration of the town’s new yam festivity. The shooting occurred very near to the official abode of the Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo.
In a press statement he signed, Ozigbo said, ‘It is with a heavy heart that I commiserate with the families and victims of the senseless killings in Nibo last Sunday. It was with shock that I received the bad news and I can imagine how the surviving victims and the families of the slain must be feeling now
‘I also send my sincere condolences to Ezeike Nibo, the Traditional Ruler of Nibo in whose domain the tragedy took place. I pray God to grant all who were involved, directly or indirectly, the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. May God grant the dead a peaceful repose.
‘I’m particularly pained by what happened last Sunday because it wasn’t the first time such would happen. My pain is that despite previous attacks, those saddled with the responsibility of protecting us seemed to have been fiddling while Rome (in this case Anambra) burnt.
‘Yesterday (last Monday), Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, finally visited the scene of a disaster for the first time in several months. He was visiting a full day after 12 of his citizens were mown down by hoodlums at a shouting distance from where he lives.
‘The attacks are an embarrassment to the state’s security architecture which has been coming under scrutiny by many well-meaning citizens of Anambra State. That such could happen unchallenged very near to where the state’s number one citizen resides is the height of the governor’s failure to secure the life and property of his people.
‘Even the governor’s belated visit to a crime scene near his door is just as embarrassing, for it seemed as though he did that to fulfill all righteousness. To add insult to injury, he went there and turned a mournful and sober situation into a moi moi eating session, not minding the sensibilities of victims and their families. It is little wonder that the social media space is currently saturated by complaints from embarrassed citizens.’
Ozigbo however said it was no surprise that the incident happened, noting that since the coming on board of the present regime, the state had witnessed a resurgence in the activities of agberos (touts) who, he said, had been enjoying unfettered freedom to carry out their nefarious activities in the guise of acting as the state government’s revenue agents.
‘Many of these agberos are known to be either living on the fringes of criminality or to be full blown criminals. Yet, they have become the beloved of the present government. It is, therefore, not rocket science that cultism has overrun the state as these people constitute the majority of cultists. This is so, so sad.
‘The time has come to put an end to these unwarranted, yet preventable acts of violence in our beloved state, which have discouraged our people and their friends from visiting, destroyed our once-thriving tourism and related businesses, and instilled daily fear and anxiety in our residents. The entire security infrastructure must be restructured to ensure effectiveness, efficiency, and suitability for its purpose. If the Governor has now run out of ideas, he should step aside, for we cannot and will not continue to live like this.
‘Once more I commiserate with the victims’ families and urge them not to lose hope of a better tomorrow,’ Ozigbo, now a guber hopeful of the Labour Party, as well as a renowned industrialist, stated.
