For some time now the South East region has been under the siege of faceless gun men who has undertaken the obnoxious responsibility of attacking police men and burning their stations.
This is a very ugly development which has put the job of police security under serious threat. Consequences are very grave for the residents in the South East as a result
This situation without doubt is already compounding the poor security situations in the land. Reports monitored in the South East states indicate that the gun men are operating in each of the states and swoops on the police selectively attacking and killing them and or burning their stations, carting away their arms in some cases.
So far no group has claimed responsibility nor has anyone or group been identified as responsible for the attacks. However, signals from Onitsha indicate that the boys of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) have been fingered to be responsible for the attacks following the invasion of the soldiers into Onitsha in search of according to the ESN boys.
We condemn this development in its entirety and wonder at the grave silence of all the governors in the South East who are the chief security officers of their respective states. There is every reason to unravel the perpetrators of this heinous crime. The crime risks putting the people of the Igbo nation against the security operatives who may chose to overrun certain areas as is typical of military men who constantly launch reprisal attacks at the slightest provocation.
The policemen mowed down in active service are breadwinners and parents to other people. They are members of the Nigerian society that are receiving the pangs and pains of bad governance unleashed on the people by greedy politicians. They are not known to have committed any crime against the assailants. Clearly, there may not be any justification for the killings.
Statistics have shown that the Nigerian nation is under policed and this is the reason it is difficult to track all the crimes occurring in the environment. This is why it is risky to further depopulate the available police hands. So much resource is lost in the attempt to rebuild burnt police stations which ought to be redeployed for alternative uses.
The attack of police men and their stations reached the apogee during the EndSARS protests compelling the federal government to set up probe panels to hear all those aggrieved by police actions. It is difficult to identify if the wave of killings are still part of the protests in which case those unleashing the mayhem should unmask themselves and lay bare their grievances.
News Echo calls the governors within the region to investigate these attacks as the chief security officers of their states. Their silence may be sending a wrong signal to the authorities and other persons. Efforts should be made to identify and appropriately condole with the victim’s families who have lost their spouses by no fault of theirs.
We also call on the people behind these criminal actions to halt it immediately. We have shed so much blood. Violence is an ill wind that blows none any good. We can never reap any dividend from acts of destruction no matter the temporary pleasure we may derive from it. We should all respect the sanctity of human lives. Enough please.
