Kidnapping: Abia Caucus exposes Police * Explains Why they want more soldiers

T A Orji
ABIA State Caucus in the National Assembly has passed a seeming vote of no confidence on the police in the current fight against kidnapping and armed robbery in the state.

Members of the caucus have also explained why they are pressing the Federal Government to set up a special security outfit like the Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in the Niger Delta, to tackle the menace as well as flood the state with more troops.

These developments are contained in a presentation to President Goodluck Jonathan, by nine of the caucus members. They are claiming that the security problem in the Abia axis of the South-East geo-political zone, is beyond the police.

Excerpts from the presentation that was leaked to AkanimoReports at Aba, the troubled commercial town of the state on Wednesday, indicate that the caucus members had initially adopted a passive attitute to the menace. They informed President Jonathan that they had restrained themselves on the security problem believing that the authorities in Umuahia, the state capital, will exert enough ,easures to stem the menace of kidnapping and armed robbery. According to them, ''Abia State Government lacks the capacity to arrest the situation. We are appealing that the Federal Government should intervene directly''.

For Abuja to do so, the lobbyists among whom are Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe and Nkechi Nwaogu, said they want government to set up a JTF in the mould thatb operates in the Niger Delta. They claimed that they are pushing hard for the deployment of more troops to the troubled state because the police and other local arrangement on the ground have failed.

''The police in the state are being suspected by the people as collaborators, othjerwise they would have been making adequate use of security information to nip in the bud any planned attack and locate the hide out of the kidnappers'', they alleged.

Continuing, they further alleged that the police are suspected to be sharing information with criminals, adding, ''it is believed that most of the kidnappers are those on the run from the Niger Delta, who have now found a safe haven in Abia state, particularly in Aba''.

 
Harping on why government should pour in more soldiers into the state to deal with the menace, they said, ''we believe that the situation has gone beyond the scope of the police, especially against the backdrop of a weak state government that seems overtly confused on how to handle the security problem of the state''.

''The JTF with full accompaniment of a military operation against dare devil criminals fighting the state would suffice in the circumstance at least, to give it the urgency it requires'', the Abia caucus said.

Insisting, they claimed that the presence of JTF operatives will send jitters and underscore the seriousness of the situation as well as help to restire the confidence of citizens and the business community in the state.

The other federal legislators who endorsed the presentation to President Jonathan, are Chinenye Ike, Kalu Uduma, Nnenna Ukeje, Nkiru Onyejiocha, Eziuche Ubani, Nkem Uzoma Abanta, and Chief Chukwuemeka Wogu.

Before now, the state Governor, Theo Orji, has been blaming some political office holders of being the brains behind the kidnapping scourge in the state.

 


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