Be professional, disband Ebubeagu now, Ebonyi indigenes task new Police Commissioner

The Association of Ebonyi Indigenes Socio-Cultural In the Diaspora (AEISCID) has asked the newly deployed Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi state, Faleye Olaleye, to be remain professional in character and conduct as a thoroughbred officer with track records of integrity.

CP Faleye Olaleye, posted from Osun state has served in several states of the federation including Ebonyi state where he rose from the position of an Area Commander to Officer-In-Charge of Operations (OC-Ops) at the State Command Headquarters between 2014 and 2015.

In a statement signed Tuesday by the group’s President General, Ambassador Pascal Oluchchukwu, urged the Iyin-Ekiti born Police Commissioner to to immediately get to work by not only disbanding the Ebubeagu terror squad but setting up a special task force from within the Command to recover the arms and ammunitions stockpiled in the state for the purposes of the forthcoming general elections.

According to Oluchchukwu, the new CP, just like the rest of Nigerians must be aware of the menace called ‘Ebubeagu Security Network’- a quasi security outfit operating mainly in Ebonyi State said to have been created by a Law of the State’s House of Assembly against the spirit and letters of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 (as amended).

“The outfit which has arguably untrained young men and women armed with all sorts of dangerous weapons and ammunitions including some pump action rifles, AK-47 (which they operate with both in hiding and sometimes openly) has since become a nightmare to the innocent citizens of our dear state.

“There have been a legion of cases of outright murder and secret burial of anyone suspected to be against the state government, abduction and torture of critics and opposition elements in the state and outright enforcement of illegal orders stopping opposition political parties from holding any form of political rallies across the length and breadth of Ebonyi state.

“As we speak, the PDP and APGA Governorship candidates, Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii and Professor Benard Ifeanyi Odoh both escaped assassination attempts on their lives penultimate weekend allegedly by the same government-sponsored Ebubeagu militia. This will be the sixth time in less than four months that an attempt will be made to take the life of the later, Odoh allegedly by agents of the Ebonyi State government just for aspiring to govern his state.

“Whereas Ebonyi people seem to have a huge sigh of relief following the removal of the former CP, Aliyu Garba who became a willing tool in the hands of an insipidly desperate and power-drunk Governor Umahi, the rage of many Ebonyians is the fact that the outgoing and infamous CP Aliyu Garba used to give a backup protection to Ebubeagu militia for some pittance whenever they are carrying out their illicit and illegal actions, as against the standard practice of policing the world over which specifies dealing ruthlessly with criminal elements no matter who may be backing or sponsoring them.”

While welcoming the new Commissioner of Police to the state, the statement demanded “arrest and be made to face the law, all those powerful persons in government who have been used to cause violence, attacks and killings in the State, be they Ebubeagu, Council Chairmen or Development Centre Coordinators to serve as a deterrent to others that a new Sheriff is in now in town and things are no longer the same.

“We therefore request the new CP Faleye, to immediately get to work by not only disbanding the Ebubeagu terror squad but setting up a special task force from within the Command to recover the arms and ammunitions the government and it’s agents and cronies have stockpiled in the State for the purposes of the forthcoming general elections.

“Further to the above, we urge that CP Olaleye should also conduct a diligent search in government quarters and all the nooks and crannies of the state where these criminal elements have allegedly stockpiled arms and ammunitions for the purposes of causing civil unrests and disobedience in the forthcoming general elections.

“Already, the APC-led government in Ebonyi has since lost popularity and acceptance by the average Ebonyian and it is good the new CP is rightly informed that the only way they want to cling to power is by intimidations, harassments and through the barrels of the gun. All these, we task the CP Olaleye to curb and ensure that all political parties in the state have a level playing field.

“AEISCID prays God to grant him a successful and fruitful stay in Ebonyi, one that will be remarkable in minds of the common masses whom he has been deployed to protect and may the popular candidates who are the true choices of the Ebonyi electorates emerge!”