FULANI HERDSMEN AND IPOB ARE SECURITY THREAT IN THIS STATE- POLICE
threats to peace and security in the state.
The Command, on Wednesday, declared that the incessant clashes between
Hausa-Fulani herdsmen and local farmers as well as the ac¬tivities of
pro-Biafra agitators were the major threats to peace and security in the
state.
The AUTHORITY recalls that three persons were recently hacked to death
by herdsmen in Umunbo, Ayame¬lum Local Government Area. The herdsmen
have also been linked with several cases of rape of women in their
farms.
In an interaction in his of¬fice in Amawbia on Wednes¬day with members
of the Anambra State House of As¬sembly Committee on Police Affairs and
Security, led by its Chairman, Hon. Victor Okoye, the Commissioner of
Police, Mr. Hassan Hosea Karma, appealed for more support to restore
peace between the farmers and the herdsmen.
Karma said: “Herdsmen and indigenous farmers’clashes are raising a
serious concern in the state and Governor Willie Obiano foresaw what
would happen and set up a committee to handle that and we have been able
to resolve so many issues involving herdsmen and indigenous farmers’
clashes in the state.”
The police chief also identified the activities of the pro-Biafran
groups such as the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State
of Biafra (MASSOB) and In¬digenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) as other
major threats and risks to the command.
Other volatile issues, according to Karma, are chieftaincy/leadership
disputes, intra-religious conflicts and inter-state boundary conflicts.
He thanked the lawmakers for making good laws in the state which, he
noted, had helped secu-rity agencies to combat crime and criminality in
the state.
He said that at present, Anam¬bra is regarded as one of the best states
in the area of security and in¬vestors are flourishing in the state.
Earlier, Hon. Okoye said that their visit was to familiarise them¬selves
with the command and identify areas of their needs to help the House
make informed laws.
Meanwhile, the Delta State Deputy Governor, Kingsley Otu¬aro, has
declared that the state gov-ernment will carefully separate the
criminals among the Hausa-Fulani herdsmen and bring them to book.
Otuaro stated this in Asaba, the state capital, on Wednesday when he
responded to protesters from the three senatorial districts of the state
against the activities of the herdsmen.
The deputy governor said the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration is
not only going to protect the natives of the state, but other
law-abiding Nigerians.
He said: “So, there is a burden on us as a government as well as on our
people to be able to sepa-rate those that are lawfully living amongst us
and those that have taken to criminality, raping and maiming our
children, our wives and causing all kinds of criminal¬ity in our
community.”
Representatives of the people of Delta Central, Delta North and Delta
South, Godwin Jacob, Henry Onwuamalieze and Mr. Warri Erigue, said the
protest was prompted by the rampant killing, armed robbery and wan¬ton
destruction of farmlands and crops, and rape of women by the Fulani
herdsmen in their com¬munities.
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