Just nineteen days after the Nigerian Police, Imo State Command headquarters and the Owerri Correctional Services were attacked on Easter Monday; Imo citizens woke up Saturday morning to the rude shock that their governor’s country home has gone up in flame. It was one attack too many by a group of faceless gun men.
No group has so far claimed responsibility in the attack which claimed three lives of the governor’s security details guarding the house. The situation has since sent further panic to the people signposting that the increasing violent attack in the attack in Igbo nation is not anywhere abating. The once peaceful South East region as it appears may have gone the way of incessant violence in the North.
Violence we must remind is an ill wind that blows none any good. Given that all humanity is one any violent attack against one is sure an injury to all. We cannot over stress the need for peaceful co-existence without which no atom of development can be had in any environment. Security of lives and property is basically the primary responsibility of any government.
The incessant and uncontrolled violent mayhem inflicted on the society in every part of Nigeria shows clearly that the government may have lost it and the anarchic situation which confronts everybody portends grave danger for the lives of the people. As the at moment, death stalks the land like colossus and the sanctity of lives has since been lost in a brutish manner.
Periodically the gun men have serially attacked security installations in the state and taken down security operatives even in the line of duties. The situation have cowed security operatives who now hide their identity and are even forced out of the roads check points creating opportunities for more crimes in the society.
If the government and its security paraphernalia cannot even secure themselves, it is left to ones imagination the dangers that the ordinary folks in the streets are exposed to.
The thoroughly embarrassed government especially in Imo is confused on where to place the cause of these incidents. If they are not fingering the opposition parties they will be pointing at a group they call hoodlums, whatever that means.
It is not in doubt that the operators of government (politicians) may have erred terribly through reckless actions that may undermine the interest of the populace and therefore attracting these violent attentions from the gun men. Identifying the people behind this dastard behavior is still in the realm of doubt and confusion.
Given the importance of security News Echo urges the governments especially in Imo dismount from its high horse and negotiate peace with all the stake holders including those labeled hoodlums. Identifying their grievances and giving attention to it can resolve the challenge. The attacks represent expression of grievances similar to a crying child that has been beaten. You cannot beat a child and stop him from crying or expressing his emotions.
We recall in one incident of security breach in Orlu the governor boastfully deployed the ‘federal might’ to arrest the situation and in the process unquantifiable losses in lives and properties were suffered by innocent victims. In contrasts, similar occurrences in the north were being handled through negotiations with bandits by some notable clerics.
We condemn the action against the number one citizen of the state. It represents an attack on the people of Imo which should not be condoned. Much as we caution the perpetrators to put a halt immediately and come forward to express their grievances, we also urge the politicians to re-examine their actions and turn a new leaf.
