Plateau indigenes in Rivers blame killings on security agencies

… Wike calls for re-jigging security architecture
Plateau state indigenes living in Port Harcourt has blamed security operatives charged with the responsibility of protecting the state for the continued killings.

Going under the aegis of Plateau Indigenes and Cultural Association, in Rivers State, the spokesman of the group, Peter Danladi, said that the federal government was not doing enough to curb the killings in Plateau State.

Danladi who spoke to newsmen in Port Harcourt said: “I want to express our dissatisfaction with the security operatives because I cannot imagine an incident of that nature on a daily basis and no information, surveillance; nothing was done to fish out the perpetrators of this evil and prosecute them.

“There’s also no information that the security agents are looking for a number of people in connection with the killings. It is a matter that has never been taken seriously and we want to call on the federal government and the security agencies to look inwards because this is going to affect a lot of economic activities, not to talk of peace in the state,” he continued.

The group’s spokesman also said that indigenes of Plateau State were then fleeing their homes for fear of reprisal attacks.

According to him, “Right now, we are not sure of security,” alleging that “Information reaching us said the security operatives guarding those environments withdrew and disappeared all of a sudden. That means that the people are not sure of their security.

“If they go back to those areas, how are they sure that they were going to continue with their businesses and that there will be normalcy? Everybody is traumatised and they are fleeing into different homes and environments. Look at the economic implications. We have become refugees in our own state,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, reacting to what he described as unwarranted attacks on unarmed communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, called for the immediate re-jigging of the nation’s security architecture.

Speaking when he received the Management of Businessday Newspaper at the Government House Port Harcourt on Thursday, Governor Wike said that the current approach to national security was no longer functional.

He alleged: “This time, criminality is targeted at some communities. Every time when they kill over a 100 innocent Nigerians, the security agencies claim that 3 persons have been arrested.

“After the deaths, they announce that Special Forces have been deployed to invaded communities. Will the Special Forces revive the slain persons?

“We must talk of re-jigging the security architecture. The present setting is not yielding results. We must introduce persons with new ideas and new thinking to check the ugly trend of insecurity,” the governor opined.

Governor Wike regretted that most of his colleagues (governors) were not interested in working for the people as they were more concerned with battling for second term.

According him, some governors rather than stand for the people in terms of the growing insecurity, prefer to hobnob with the President, begging for second term support.