Group petitions IG, wants Ebonyi CP to account for arrested ‘warlords’

Following the alleged escape of 55 out of 66 ‘warlords’ arrested by the General Officer Commanding 82 division, Enugu, Maj.Gen. Taoreen Lagbaja, and his team, during a raid at Okpuduma village last Saturday, in Effium community from the Police custody, the Ezza-Effium Consultative Assembly, has accused the Nigeria Police in the state under CP Aliyu Garba, of compromise, and has called on the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to transfer him out of the state within 72 hours.

This is even as the group urged the IGP to prevail on CP Garba to account for, within 48 hours, the 55 militias who escaped from the police custody, before his redeployment from Ebonyi state.

In a statement titled: Escape of 55 arrested militias in Effium, a confirmation of security compromise and the involvement of powerful forces in the ongoing genocide against Ezza-Effium people in Effium community, which was issued on Sunday and signed by the Chairman,Mr. Aligwe Mathias Chukwuma and the secretary, Mr. Bernard Orichi, the group noted that the incident was a confirmation that the security personnel had been compromised and were allegedly aiding the killings of Ezza-Effium people in Effium community.

Recall that Ebonyi State Government through the Commissioner for Internal Security, and border peace, Chief Stanley Okoro Emegha who was part of the GOC team that conducted the raid that led to the arrest of the 66 warlords had while speaking with Journalists on Saturday described the escape of 55 of them as a sabotage on the part of security agencies.

He accused the security agents who were handed over the suspects of aiding their escape and threatened that the government would be forced to use the state vigilante to end the persistent hostilities in the community.

“Our visit today was a major breakthrough by arresting those people but very unfortunate that out of the 66, security agencies that were saddled with the responsibility of guarding those people to Abakaliki compromised, as we moved, they released them and the Governor through the Deputy Governor has demanded for an explanation from the CP and the Commanding Officer.

“The Commissioner of Police was there, he saw them. It was my insistence that those people must be arrested, that these are the warriors and they shouldn’t be allowed to stay in the community. So, it is compromise on the part of the security. The reason why we have been having this problem in Effium is because the security has compromised. What happened this afternoon is very clear to every body that they have compromised”, Chief Emegha had said.

The Press statement by Ezza-Effium Consultative Assembly reads in part, “The freeing of the 55 militias from the police custody has confirmed our earlier stance that the security agencies sent on a peace mission in Effium community had been badly compromised and are biased with the mission of annihilating  our people from Effium Community.

“The arrest of the 66 militias working for Ufiom people and their sponsors on Saturday (out of which 55 of them were freed by compromised security agents), is an incontrovertible prove of our earlier position that militias from different parts of Nigeria had been hired and commissioned to exterminate Ezza-Effium people in Effium community by selfish individuals who place political and economic interests above human lives. This evil assignment that has been going-on since January this year in  Effium community is already a near success as over 500 Ezza-Effium natives have been killed so far and their properties worth billions of Naira destroyed by the hired militias.

“We are constrained to further note that for the men of the Nigeria police to boldly indulge in such a broad day security sabotage in a joint security operation with other sister agencies and before the watchful eyes of Ebonyi State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kelechi Igwe, and other officials of the state government, is a clear confirmation that there is a hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob in the ongoing carnage in Effium community. This, also confirms the earlier alarm raised by this august body that the security agents have been aiding the killings of Ezza-Effium people since the tribal cleansing started in January.

“We, therefore, call on the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to prevail on CP Aliyu Garba, to provide, within 48 hours, the 55 militias freed under his watch, so that they would be made to face trial for their involvement in the ongoing genocide against the peace loving people of Ezza-Effium in Effium community. Else, we may be forced to believe that CP Aliyu Garba is privy to the ongoing tribal cleansing against Ezza-Effium people in Effium.

“We equally call on the IGP to redeploy CP Aliyu Garba from Ebonyi State within 72hours, once he has given the account of the hired militias, he complacently freed in fulfilment of his paymasters’ bidding who are hell-bent on exterminating Ezza-Effium people.

“We also implore the IGP to ensure that every other person or group of persons that are directly or indirectly involved in this security sabotage, no matter how highly placed, are arrested and made to face the full weight of the law.

“We call on Governor David Umahi, to prove that he is not culpable in this evil plot to exterminate Ezza-Effium people in Effium community by ensuring that this security sabotage is not swept under the carpet. He should ensure that these 55 militias freed by the compromised personnel of Ebonyi State Police Command, are properly accounted for, by them, by possibly parading them for the public to see.

“We call also on the Federal Government of Nigeria to transfer out of Ebonyi State the State Director of DSS and the State Commandant of Nigeria Civil Defense Corps (NCDC) for being culpable in this crime against Ezza-Effium people. The Federal government should immediately deploy unbiased security agents to Effium community in order to end the persistent killings of unarmed Ezza-Effium people by hired militias.

“We invite the National Human Rights Commission; the Amnesty International and the whole world to note these questionable developments arising from the ongoing genocide against Ezza-Effium people in Effium community.”

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