Key stakeholders, weekend, took a swipe at Governor David Umahi over what they alleged as the state governor’s attempt to link elders of the state especially those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the failing security situation in Ebonyi.
In a communiqué by 38 stakeholders including lawmakers both at the state and federal level, the stakeholders noted that rather than link elders of the state with the security situation of Ebonyi, it said only the state government possesses the capacity to unleash the mayhem and generalised insecurity that has bedeviled the state in recent times.
According to a text of the statement signed by Sen Anyim Pius Anyim, Sen Sam Egwu, Sen Obinna Ogba, Sen Michael Ama Nnachi, Chief Felix Mgbada and others, it said, “It is instructive to point out that since inception in 2015, violence against the Ebonyi people has remained the hallmark of the Umahi-led administration. This started quite early with the creation of a so-called Ekubaraoha Youth Assembly (EYA) which in a space of about six years has left an indelible footprint of blood, tears and sorrows in Ebonyi.
“More recently and with the creation of the Ebubeagu security outfit and the concomitant need to arm them with pump action guns and other automatic weapons, occasional boundary disputes have now transmuted into very dangerous armed conflicts often spearheaded by known agents of the state government.
“We therefore make bold to state that we have abundant pictorial and audio evidence, that the procurement and distribution of pump action and other automatic weapons has become a policy backed by executive action in Ebonyi state.
“With the creation of Ebubeagu Security outfit in the state, the possession and open display of firearms by street urchins has become common place.
“We are alarmed to report that it has come to our knowledge that Ebonyi state government has covertly established special detention centres in the state, where kidnapped political opponents are kept and tortured in the name of interrogation.”
They said rather than Umahi’s style of writing petitions to heads of federal security agencies against his own people, he should accept responsibility of the crisis in the state.
