In recent times, there have several
security issues in cross river state ranging from kidnapping, to cult clashes,
robbery, communal wars, etc. The recent which is the attack on the life of
Cross's Special adviser on youth affairs, Prince Edward Godwin popularly called
Prince7 on Thursday 6th July at his State housing estate residence in calabar.
This attack is the basis on which a member of de mandate, a sociopolitical group given to engaging government and public office holders and demanding for accountability wrote this master piece demanding for prompt actions to be taken to curb unprecedented season of insecurity before it becomes insurmountable.
In his article, Bright demands for the resignation of thee state security adviser for failing to provide a lasting provision to the insecurity faced by the state in the last two years.
The article which has since made waves on facebook reads in
full:
INSECURITY IN CROSS RIVER STATE AND WHY THE STATE SECURITY ADVISER SHOULD RESIGN.
BRIGHT IBINGHA
Cross River State has over the years earned
itself the title of the most peaceful state in Nigeria. It was believed that
whenever you are in the state you are always at rest without worries or any
trepidation as the Case maybe. But presently, such title as the peaceful state
has suddenly eroded and faded away, it has been replaced with such title as the
most dreaded and unsecured state in the country. How this insecurity
mysteriously crept into the state is a question that is on the lips of all
Cross Riverians.
The people are no longer safe in their own
state. Innocent people die on daily basis, so many people’s properties have
been destroyed and people are losing confidence in not just the government of
the day, but also in themselves because the possibility of seeing the next day
is no longer guaranteed. In the City of Calabar Currently, anything can
transpire at any time, if you are not hit by a straight bullet, you maybe hit
by a stray one, In any case, the situation is terrible.
The residents of Calabar, the capital city
of Cross River State have suddenly become sport men and women who are always
poised to take to their toes at any time an unimaginable happens or seems to
happen. If you have not done a marathon race before, the city is no longer safe
for you because anything can happen. For those of you who are in Calabar South
you cannot but attest to it that the situation is worst. I will not be doing a
disservice to my State to say the fact that, the whole situation in Cross River
State is quite opprobrious, gloomy and highly condemnable.
From the four corners of the State one
cannot gainsay the fact that there is social unrest, an inextinguishabl e conflagration has engulfed and submerged the state. Cultism
in Obubra, Cultism in Yakurr, cultism in Calabar, Obudu etc. Kidnapping in
every nook and cranny of the state, militancy in Bakassi and Boki, and above
all, communal wars in Obubra, Yakurr, Odukpani, Akamkpa, Abi, Yala, Obudu etc.
Oil palm estate saga in Boki where many have also died. In all that is
happening, Cross Riverians wonder if there is any state government policy to
attenuate and assuage the plights of the people.
The worst of it is that, people who are in
government and who purported to be serving the people are deeply involved in
wars taking arms against the people they claim to represent. To instantiate
this assertion is a case of a former Councilor in Yala whose photograph has
gone viral on social media with a gun after killing the people he claimed to
have represented as a Councilor. This left me with no choice but to aver that
leaders are not the people’s representative anywhere as everybody represents
his/herself, take it or leave it, the unvarnished truth is lying bare.
The unique question here is, what is the
position of the state security advisor in this cataclysm that is befalling the
people in the state? It is the government that controls the apparatus and instruments
of violence in any society, it behooves the government to act or not to act in
which case it becomes a benign neglect. However, another question that is mind
blowing is, can the present government under the leadership of Prof. Benedict
Ayade in the company of Mr. Jude Ngaji as the state security adviser
successfully arrest and deal with the seeming insurmountable security situation
in the state? or are we going to suffer the fate until the end of this tenure?
your guess is as good as mine. There is no problem that is insurmountable, all you need is the right policies in place and the
leadership acumen to implement the policies.
It will not be out of place therefore to
say that the chief problem of this government is putting square pecks in the round
holes. While Mr. Jude Ngaji, the son of the former senator representing
Northern Senatorial district of the state served as the chief of staff to the
former governor, I will not be speaking tongue in cheek to say that he is not
competent enough in the very position he occupies now in the state. He does not
look like one who has the perspicacity of security issues and hence should be
swapped with a security guru or resign immediately. The office of the security
adviser anywhere should be manned by a retired but not tired security officer
who has the security acumen and well vest with the act and possibly science of
security and security management, otherwise, anything short of this, the people
are doomed, such is the case in Cross River State.
Suffice it to say that the insecurity in
Cross River has over riped and protruded such that is begging for a security
summit to scout for a way forward. If the government continues to overlook the
people in this devilish situation, they will surely not go unscathed some day.
It will be greatly appalling on my part to say that the dooms day is here for
Cross Riverians, but it will not be out of place to say that.
By BRIGHT IBINGHA
The views represented in this article are that of the author TDN did not in anywhere influence his view
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