By Okey Maduforo
Retired Deputy Inspector General of Police Ozo Celestine Okoye has lamented the state of insecurity in Awka Capital City, alleging that some suspected cultists have been threatening his life for refusing to assist their members in police custody from getting bail.
Okoye who is an Awka High Chief further alleged that there are some very influential members of the public that have been sponsoring cultists and kidnappers in Awka Capital City.
He cited many cases of kidnap recorded recently in Awka alone, placing emphasis on those recorded around the Dubai Estate axis, where he said has become a danger zone both in broad daylight, as well as the case of a newly-married couple who were recently kidnapped and billed N30 million as ransom for their release.
While confirming that there are speculations that some influential men in Awka are sponsoring and using their contacts and influence to secure the release of some of those Awka cultists when arrested, the retired DIG said he had also been accused of same while he is innocent.
He also revealed that many of the cultists in Awka have even threatened to attack him because of his refusal to intervene in their cases or secure the release of their members.
“How would they expect me to intervene in a case I know nothing about. Why would they even join cult in the first place? And many of them are vulcanizers, Keke riders and touts, while many don’t even have anything doing. They won’t bend down and learn work and be useful to themselves! Rather, their interest is how to get gun and kill, all in the name of useless groups or cult!” he bemoaned.
“Even now, many of them have become hired assassins, in the sense that when someone has a disagreement or land issue with another person, he would go and hire some of them to attack the person. That is why some of these people being killed are not even cultists,” he added.
Continuing, he said the cultists had also recently threatened to attack the Ozọ-titled men in Awka for not having intervened to reconcile them and broker in the protracted cult wars that have been going on in the city for years.
This, Chief Okoye said, was part of the reasons they have beefed up their security and become more security cautious, especially in their gatherings.
Asked who is to be blamed for the worsening insecurity and crime rate, the retired DIG said both the government, security agencies and parents have their respective fair shares of the blame, as they are not doing some of the things they are supposed to do.
While noting that security issues in Anambra State are unnecessarily being politicized, he recalled how he had sometime booked appointment to meet with Governor Chukwuma Soludo, to discuss the security situation with him and offer his experience, wealth of knowledge, and professional advice on how best to go about it; but which the Governor later turned down at the eleventh hour and never reverted to him again till date, after having earlier accepted and chosen a preferred date for the discussion.
Chief Okoye, while saying that even many top government functionaries in the state still don’t want to acknowledge the truth that there is high rate of insecurity in the state, also added that some people were even accusing him of salivating and yearning for political appointment by his expression of interest to meet with the Governor over the security of the State. This, and the Soludo’s action, he said, made him to hold his peace on the issue since then, as his concern was not regarded.
On the aspect of the police, he regretted that some of the people being arrested during ‘raids’ and bailed with hundreds of thousands are not the real criminal elements, but innocent people; while the real hoodlums continue to carryout their criminal acts. He recommended intelligence policing as the way to go, if the real criminal elements must be identified and apprehended.
He further blamed the parents for not helping matters by neglecting some of the things they are supposed to be doing and doing those they are not supposed to be doing, lamenting that even when a cultist is gunned down, their family members will hurriedly bury the corpse immediately without accepting to allow the police know about it, thereby burying the evidence that such crime occured, and consequently frustrating the investigation efforts of the police and other sister agencies.
Although, Chief Ụzụakpụndụ acknowledged that there is insecurity in almost every part of the state, including Nnewi, where he said he recently escaped from armed men who chased after his vehicle on his way back from a public function; he however noted that Nnewi has more organized local security apparatus and even street cameras, which helped immensely to better their security situation; while Awka’s security situation has regrettably become more worrisome and deteriorates by the day, even as a capital city.
When contacted the Anambra state Commissioner for Homeland Matters Chief Chikodi Anarah said:
“It would be wrong for one to make such bogus claims about insecurity in Anambra or Awka Capital City because we are on top of the operations against these criminals”
“We have been carrying out twenty four hours operations in major flash points in the state and we have made lots of arrests and they are helping security operatives with information and we would not want to disclose what we have so far in order get more of their leaders”
Anarah also noted that the duty of fighting insecurity is also in the hands of top prominent Awka men and women, adding that the government of Anambra State has in the past offered hand of partnership with the leadership of Awka town to fight insecurity.
