OKEY MADUFORO 
In the last two years or so, Governor Charles Soludo has been battling with the challenges of insecurity in the state. As the Yuletide season draws near, OKEY MADUFORO speaks with the Commissioner for Homeland Matters, Chief Chikodi Anarah on the state of security in the area state
How has the journey been so far in the area of security of lives and property in Anambra State?
Well, it has not been easy so far but it is interesting that in the last two years or so. We have been able to make remarkable achievements in that regard. You know the governor gave those boys they call unknown gunmen some time to come out of the bushes and hand over their guns and he gave them a promise of engaging them with something meaningful to do to earn a living. He also granted them amnesty and released some of them in prison custody which was enough of an olive branch for them.
But most of them chose to remain in the bush and continue with what they were doing and the governor had no option to wield the big stick by flushing them out of the bushes. You know before eight local government areas or about 12 of them were under the control of these miscreants and they have been running down everywhere but today they do not have any hiding place.
But some Community Vigilant Groups are said to have been compromising and undermining what the government is doing?
That was before and not now because when we discovered that we had to reorganize the local community vigilant groups, recruited more hands and injected fresh blood into the system and the results have been marvelous. However, you cannot rule out bad eggs in every system and we have our eyes on such people and we know what to do at the appropriate time. Those places that the miscreants are hiding are as a result of some personnel compromising the arrangements made by the government and so many of those behind the hat have been fished out.
The Joint Task Force on security appears to have some kind of supremacy tussles among those sister organisations. How true is that?
I am not aware of this report and I don’t think it is true because we have rules of engagement and we had it well spelt out on paper and in operations. The community vigilant groups can arrest or apprehend suspects and hand them over to the police that keeps them in their custody so that supremacy tussles cannot come in at this point. Both Police, Army, Civil Defense, Customs and Immigration are working together and the ultimate goal is to provide security of lives and property. Remember the Chief Security Officer is the governor and everyone is answerable to him and he makes the orders so the Task Force cannot clash and the body takes the credit for whatever achievements that it makes or had made so far
There have been issues of killings over land grabbing and some of the suspects are alleging government involvement?
These are rabble-rousers going about peddling falsehood against the state government to cover their atrocities and the government is in the know of what they are doing. It is expected that when the government is working some people busy themselves with name calling or name dropping to throw spanners into the good works of government. Some of them have gone as far as trying to hijack the leadership of some town unions using gunmen to terrorise innocent and law- abiding citizens of Anambra state.
But we as a government have been able to contain them through the relevant ministries such as Local Government and Town Union Matters and a lot of communities that had leadership problems are now free because the era of caretaker executives is gone and those stories of Chieftaincy crisis have so far been resolved. Their activities have been problems in the state in the past and we have taken measures to address them.
Some time ago, we had reports of air strikes by the Nigerian Air Force and people talked about collateral damage?
One thing is very clear here and that is the areas affected were the places they are camped and that is the bushes and people don’t live there. These criminals stay in the bushes and they come to town to cause trouble and then run back to the bushes to hide. So, the air strikes did not affect the villagers and the natives and those talking about collateral damages up till now cannot pin point one innocent person or group of persons that were affected by the air strikes Those people talking about collateral damages never commented on the killing of our people who come home to see their relatives.
Nobody is talking about the burning of Police stations and local government headquarters and the collection of ransom from kidnapped victims. What efforts have they made to engage these criminals and make them stop what they are doing? It is unfortunate that when Mr. Governor is working to make our state a livable prosperous and healthy smart City state some people are out there creating in- security and chasing away investors from our state and some fifth columnists are there talking about collateral damages.
You talked about investments, Anambra is losing a lot to the sit at home order every Monday?
No, the Monday sit at home is fast becoming history in Anambra State. Before Onitsha, the main market and other major markets in the state were always closed every Monday but today people do business in Anambra state and markets open on those days. Recently someone gave an order that between the 15th and 16th of this month people should sit at home and what happened? No one cared to listen to him and people opened for business everywhere and no one was attacked or killed for not complying with that order.
Granted that Anambra and the people have lost billions to the sit at home order but business activities are fast coming back to normal and those people that you said ran away to Asaba and other states are fast returning because the governor has created a safe haven for them to do business. As a matter of fact, we have taken back our Monday and by this time next year we will be singing a different song in Anambra state.
But Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is still in detention and there is that panic in the South-East about the gunmen returning…?
I have issued a statement on that and I want to reiterate that there is nothing to panic about. You can recall that the governor has been on the vanguard for the release of Nnamdi Kanu and he said release him to him and whenever he is needed, he would provide him.The essence is that if he wants s released those in the bush terrorizing people would have no reason to continue with what they are doing. But the governor and his other colleagues in the South East Governor’s Forum are not resting and they have not gone to sleep about it and it is my strong belief that they will achieve something substantial in the end.
Similarly, are you aware that Oba has become another community that is in the news ahead of the Christmas and New Year seasons with the killings, kidnappings at the night club and hotels in the area? I want to urge Anambra people to come home for Christmas because we guarantee all law- abiding citizens a crime free season. We have spotted flash points across the state, and there are already sustained efforts of the Anambra Vigilante Group, (AVG) and the Joint Task Force on security are battle-ready to take on any person or group of persons found to be perpetrating insecurity in the state.
AVG has also extended its operations to all the boundaries of Anambra State, aimed at checkmating the movement of strange faces and we urge everyone within the boundary areas to comport themselves in a manner that will not lead them into a confrontation with the security agencies. This is a festive period and I am aware that some of the enemies of the State may likely raise their ugly heads but my assurance is that we are going to crush them at any time they come up. Security should be seen as everyone’s business and that is why I am appealing to everyone to play his or her role toward making this season a hitch-free one.
