Ebonyi Killings: Things falling apart, House Deputy Minority Leader warns

Tom Okpe

Abuja Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Toby Okechukwu has noted that recent killings in Ebonyi State, attack on former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Chukwuma Soludo, and prevailing killings across the country are ominous indications that things are falling apart in the country.

He warned that the country was already neck-deep into a season of anomie, which, if not immediately arrested, would spell doom for the country.

The lawmaker, who represents Aninri/Awgu/Oji River Federal Constituency in Enugu State stated in a press statement he issued in Abuja on Thursday.

While condemning the recent massacre in Ebonyi State communities and attack at an event in Anambra State of Soludo, which left three policemen attached to the former CBN Gov dead, stressed that time was overdue to breathe life into the reports of the 2014 National Conference and the Governor Nasir El-Rufai-led All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on True Federalism, both of which he said favoured state police which he said answers the rising insecurity in the country.

He said: “This continuous carnage as evident from the attack in Ebonyi is a clear indication that things are really falling apart.

This massacre of hapless citizens is another sad reminder that we are in a season of anomie where innocent people are unexpectedly mowed down in cold blood without consequences.

“It is unbelievable that non-state actors brandishing AK-47 and other lethal weapons can hold a nation of over 250 million people to ransom, undetected, unchallenged, without consequences.

 “The advertent or inadvertent encouragement of ethic militias to levy war on all parts of the country is a clear manifestation of a nation that has abdicated its leviathan responsibility to protect lives and properties of citizens.  

“It is very apparent from all indications that the Federal Government has lost the initiative to preempt, curtail, mitigate or solve these devilish attacks and bloodletting. 

“It is also very apparent from our security policy and its present architecture that citizens cannot be protected or assured of protection. Clearly, the APC government has lost its commission and mandate for which it was hired in 2019.”

 Okechukwu urged President Mohammadu Buhari, security agencies, and leaders of the nation at every level to rise up to the challenge or risk being the undertakers of the Nigerian federation.

“We are not willing by any act of omission or commission to be the undertakers of this Federal Republic. Therefore, this APC administration led by President Mohammadu Buhari must urgently give vent to the El-Rufai Committee report as well as the 2014 confab report both of which are in support of state police,” he said.

While commiserating with the people of Ebonyi State, Okechukwu, however, called on security agencies to ensure arrest and prosecution of the executors and masterminds of the Ebonyi killings.

“l call on security agencies to smoke out the perpetrators and bring them to book.
The Deputy Minority Leader commiserates with the Government and people of Ebonyi State and families of the policemen that lost their lives in Anambra State adding; “all measures should be taken to ensure that this does not happen again.”