New Telegraph Admin 
The senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Ifeanyi Ubah, speaks in this interview with OKEY MADUFORO on insecurity in the South- East and his contribution to tackle the menace, among other issues
Recently, the South East governors and the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo had a meeting on the issue of insecurity in the zone. What do you make of that meeting?
We are on the same page with every move aimed at restoring the security of lives and property in Igbo land and they totally have my blessings. One person can- not be greater that his kinsmen, and however right an individual may be, he cannot win a war against his kinsmen.
So, Simon Ekpa cannot be bigger than Igbo land and I make bold to say that this synergy among the governors and Ohanaeze Ndigbo is a welcome development and I urge our businessmen and women as well as industrialists to buy into this arrangement. It is not a government thing or governor’s project but the project of everyone because when we succeed everyone will benefit from it.
The Chief of Army Staff has ordered his men to take over those areas where the gunmen are operating from. What is your take on that? That reminds me of the Chief of Army Staff’s comment on the security architecture in Nnewi and that the army will also play very important role in that regard. So, what else do you want me to say?
Those boys are our children and our relatives and we know all of them and you cannot claim that those people are outsiders. We know where they are and we shall help the security operatives as we have always done to fish them out.
So, let me advise our children to come out from the bush and hand over their arms because when it starts, there will be no hiding place for them and people should not come here to talk about human rights.
You cannot say anything like that because what would say about the countless young men and women, who were beheaded and their organs harvested. Nobody has ever talked about human rights since the killings and kidnapping started, so we shall take them head-long from town to town, bush to bush, until we rid Igbo land of criminality.
You have been talking about the state of the South-East economy as a result of insecurity that is ravaging the zone. What is your take on the issue?
The greatest factor that helps businesses to thrive is the security of lives and property, so all hands must be on the deck, with the state government leading the charge to provide the needed environment for our people to return home. The call by Governo Charles Soludo on Ndi Anambra and, in fact, the entire Igbo race to adopt the Isreali model by coming home to build for ourselves a livable and prosperous homeland is one that must go beyond rhetoric.
It should be taken very serious by all our illustrious sons and daughters, especially those of them making great exploits in the diaspora but face exploitative and vindictive actions from time to time by their host communities. The provocative demolition of parts of Alaba International Market serves as the most current example of some of the unfavorable situations that our people face in other people’s lands.
But the question is: Which successful businessman will accept to come to an Anambra where our people sit at home every Monday and lose billions in potential business deals and transactions?
Who among them will hear the sordid stories of kidnappings and payment of ransoms and still come to Anambra to invest? The other day, it was the chief security officer to one of the frontline governorship candidates in the Anambra election of 2021 that got kidnapped with reports that ransom has been paid and yet the man is still nowhere to be found.
Though I don’t have executive powers, I am presently taking the laudable step of developing a security architecture that will help bring peace, businesses, and tourism back to Anambra South Senatorial District because I understand clearly that with the present insecurity, no Anambra son or daughter in Diaspora will pay serious attention to any call to return home and invest.
My reason for this selfless decision to take up that mandate of fighting insecurity even at great personal risk is not farfetched. The doctrine of “Aku Luo Uno” (Wealth must go home) is one key factor that we hold very dear to our heart.
Simon Ekpa keeps been boasting that the stay-at-home order has come to stay in the South East. What is your take on that?
I have made it clear that the so-called leader of IPOB, who is operating from Finland, Mr. Simon Ekpa, should steer clear of Nnewi with his sit-at-home order forthwith as he has not given hope for the release of Nnamdi in no distant time.
For the past years Mr. Ekpa has been enforcing his sit-at-home order on Igbo land despite the huge misfortune and hardship that came with it. That is why I said enough is enough and resolved in agreement with my constituents that there would be no more observation of sit-at-home order beginning with my community, Nnewi.
We have co-operated to obey the sit-at-home order all this while but we have also found out that we are losing our economic base, jobs and business opportunities. As the senator representing the good people of Anambra South Senatorial District, I deem it fit to say that we will not continue to have stay-at-home on Mondays. From now on, every business area in Nnewi shall be open for business.
We have our men; we have our system. I know saboteurs will try to sabotage our efforts, but we are resolved to fight any aggressor that will come into this town. If Ekpa and those working with him should mention stay-at-home again, they should come down to Nigeria to show the people where they have their industries and offices that are also closed every Monday.
They say charity begins at home, so he must observe the sit-at-home in Ebonyi State before he starts to mention Anambra State or Nnewi. He cannot see Anambra or Nnewi as a fertile place for his dubious enterprise.
Are you dismissing Ekpa’s claim that his actions are aimed towards the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu?
The new National Assembly would give the push for Nnamdi Kanu’s release a new dimension with legislations and I have strong belief that it would be far reaching. I believe that the new National Assembly will resolve to give his release a serious push.
I have started by going to have a meeting with the family of Nnamdi Kanu. I have been talking with his lawyers for the past one week. Our resolve is to give the quest for his release a new dimension. While we demand for his release, we have deployed a combination of artificial intelligence and native technology in tackling Insecurity in Anambra South.
Security, in its wildest sense, concerns the happiness, contentment and freedom of mankind. The highest law of any society should be hinged upon the safety and security of the citizenry. Security sets the tone for the economic growth and deployment of basic amenities in any sane society.
The effect of the criminal activities ravaging the zone in the last few years has been devastating, to say the least. While the indices of lives of youths lost in the South-East are alarming, the general feeling of insecurity has made a negative impact on the socio-economic development of the zone.
By leveraging artificial intelligence, we will be able to analyze large amount of data to identify patterns and predict potential security threats. This allows for a more proactive approach to security rather than simply reacting to incidents as they occur.
