Gov. Umahi plans to shoot his way through in 2023- Hon (Chief ) Idu Igariwey

 

.Alleges Ebubeagu in Ebonyi state overstepping its bounds

 

Hon (Chief ) Idu Igariwey, is the member representing Afikpo North/South Federal Constituency of Ebonyi State in the House of Representative. He is equally the Vice Chairman of House Committee on Appropriation. In a recent interview with newsmen he bares his mind on the activities of “Ebubeagu Security Outfit/Cybercrime Law 2021  ” of Ebonyi State and other sundry issues….Correspondent Clement Nnachi reports (Excerpts)

 

Let us talk about Ebonyi State and the peculiar insecurity situation in the State .What are the people saying , what are those challenges at this moment?

The major challenge in Ebonyi State which occasioned the Motion of  urgent importance from Five PDP members of the National Assembly, on the creation of an Armed Militia called Ebubeagu by the Governor of Ebonyi State .

This particular creation is the biggest threat in the state particularly because of the way Ebubeagu has been used in the state. As far as we are concerned for purposes  of the Motion ,most people in the state are surprised that a State government could deliberately create an organization that is  creating  instability in the state.

For instance before 2022, we didn’t have Ebubeagu .State Government can create anything that can help in maintaining Law and Order. You don’t create something that seems to replace the regular Security Agencies (Police). It is not allowed under our Law .The arming of Ebubeagu with AK-47, Pump Action Rifle without any specific Rule of Engagement has been a source of tremendous instability in Ebonyi State .

People are worried that on daily basis that Ebubeagu is used to collect bribes from people, Ebubeagu is used to mounting road blocks as from 7 pm it takes over the nooks and crannies of the State.

The qualification to be a member of Ebubeagu personnel is that you are a “strongman”, either you are a criminal ,either you have just left the Correctional Services, that is the main qualification for recruitment of what has turned out to be an Armed Militia .These are people who are not trained ,even though they claim they give them two weeks training , I can not imagine the kind of training you give to those who don’t have any security background and you unleash them on the streets to maintain Law and Order.

 

It is nothing but a recipe for crisis and conflict.  Ebonyi State is the only state in this country you see a deliberate State actor creating a sort of instability, in Ebonyi the state has deliberately created what is called Ebubeagu an armed militia different from regular policing .I can not find it anywhere in our constitution . Ebubeagu has been involved in so many killings many of them are recorded .

The recent one happened in Akaeze community in Ivo Local Government Area, another one happened in my Local Government in a town called Akpoha in Afikpo North Local Government Area, they have killed a lot of  people . In Abakaliki local government ,they have killed a lot of people ,the latest is the young man they shot at the Leg had his limps amputated .

 

It is a problem that was deliberately created nilly-willy by the State Government which a lot of people in the state measuredly political reaction to maintain Law and Order.

 

I understand that Ebubeagu is backed by Law , it is in line with Regional owned security outfit in curbing excesses of non-state actors, you are talking about Ebubeagu in Ebonyi State with  many challenges .This is really sad because the perusal here is that Ebonyi State has experienced a level of infrastructural development in recent times?

How else do you hope to channel this concern since you believe that this group were derailing from the course in which they were formed ?

 

The problem with  Ebubeagu and the Law is not that it is not the creation of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly but the issue is how the people perceive it. Everything you do must come from the Constitution. What kind of Law is that that allows them to carry AK-47. What kind of law that allows them to arrest people and keep them in their own detention camps located inside State Government House Abakaliki. Whatever you do  must come from the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The 1999 Constitution under Section 214 only recognizes the Nigerian Police as the Agency created to maintain law and Order . I am not talking of other security agencies like the army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC),

In a state, no matter the Regional arrangement,  you don’t create anything that seeks to replace the Nigerian Police . If you look at what they call Ebonyi State Security Agency Law of 2021, if you go to Section 8 of the Document and you  see the function of Ebubeagu, you clearly see that they have replaced the Nigerian Police in Ebonyi State .

 

You can not imagine a State House of Assembly, they don’t have the Power to Legislate on Policing. That is clearly an issue meant for the National Assembly to legislate on.So now they have created the Law,  Ebonyi State House of Assembly have created a Law that is illegitimate .

Now Ebubeagu is supposed to join Nigerian Police in Road Blocks, they are supposed to join Nigerian Police in Patrols , One of the Ebubeagu function is to create profiling , Ebubeagu is expected to disarm people .It is implicit that they are expected to be very heavily armed .

Ask yourself who is providing such arms for Ebubeagu , you know very well that State Governments  under our Constitution can not procure arms , it is only the Federal Government (Inspector General of Police IGP or the President). Where are they getting this arms from, Who is directing their Operation, what is the Structure of Ebubeagu .You cannot allow a situation that can only lead to anarchy. We are not talking of whether it is created by Ebonyi State Law, what kind of law is that you have people carrying AK-47

What have you and other  National Assembly members decided to do in this circumstance?

 

What we have decided to do apart from our duties of representation which we carried out last Thursday on the Floor of the National Assembly when we moved this Motion asking the Inspector General of Police (IGP), to investigate several reports of murders, assaults, several reports of illegal detention of persons .

We are asking the regular security agencies to investigate those arms ,who gave licenses for AK-47, Pump Action Rifles to be distributed by Ebonyi State Government .

Finally as law abiding citizens, we have decided we are going to test whether it is proper in the first place for Ebonyi State Government to set up an Agency like Ebubeagu, secondly whether it is proper for a State Government to arm this individuals .

Honourable any one listening to you now will feel like  as an opposition party now ,is unfortunate that the governor had to decamp from your party to APC, some people would say that maybe that is why PDP is not seeing anything good in the deployment of Ebubeagu in Ebonyi State.

How come it seems to some people that PDP does not see Ebubeagu as stepping in to solve the insecurity situation in the State and supporting the Agency that are responsible for that rather than picking holes in whatever they do.

To talk about the Governor leaving PDP for APC  was a Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish. Have you seen where a Governor was leaving his party from his State even his own Representative did not go with him.

Not a single member of Ebonyi State PDP at the National Assembly either as a member of the House of Representative or a Senator left with him. It tells you a lot . You should also know that the Governor committed Political Suicide .

Nobody is missing Governor Umahi and he knows it  All the Ebonyi State Elders are in PDP, former Governor Sam Egwu now (Senator) is in PDP, former Secretary to Government of the Federation Senator Anyim Pius Anyim is in PDP, virtually every stakeholders is in PDP, nobody is missing him, it is rather the Governor who is under tremendous pressure that he has suddenly found himself in the Political Wilderness .

Maybe the early response of what we have found in Ebonyi State is the creation of this armed militia. What the Governor is planning to do is to shoot his way through in 2023. Why didn’t he formed Ebubeagu all this  while , now election is coming and he begin to fund this armed militia, armed young people in every Local Government, armed them with weapons.

 

There is nothing like not seeing anything good in Ebubeagu, even the security agencies in Ebonyi State will tell you that Ebubeagu is a threat to their normal operations , Ebubeagu will mount road blocks , you have them wearing masks ,if you listen to the comments in Ebonyi State, you will know that almost everybody is fed up with the group.

 

If not for those who are government functionaries ,with few people who are there ,we have heard that there have planned to organize a rally where people will go to the Stadium to say  that they want Ebubeagu. Normal Ebonyi people needs to be alert ,they know that it  is just an attempt to deceive people .

 

In Amasiri community of Afikpo North Local Government Area, several people including women, the elderly demonstrated against Ebubeagu declaring that they don’t want Ebubeagu .Let people tell you their experiences of what is happening in their environment .

 

What happened in Akaeze (Ivo Local Government ) was a normal reaction from an organized people of the community where  Ebubeagu people tied one man hand back and used axe to kill him, and the people revolted .Is that how people who are called Ebubeagu should behave .

 

We are all aware of security challenges , we appreciate the pressures on official security agencies like police ,Civil Defence but we don’t want to compound their problem by creating another source of insecurity .Are you now saying PDP should also go and arm people .What kind of environment are you expected to have ?

 

What we are calling for is that the Governor should allow the Police/Civil Defence to do their work. He should allow the security services  to do their work.  We all have a civic responsibility to assist the regular security agencies .If I see something I will say something to the Police .

 

It the Governor wants to help the Police or want to have Ebubeagu to help the Police , it can be created in such a way to complement and not supplement the efforts of the regular security agencies .

 

Now that we ask, when you leave this arms in the hands of this urchins, what happens to the State when the Governor leaves ,how do you mop up this arms ,President Buhari in his wisdom has decided that arms should be mopped  and unfortunately a member of his party (APC) contracts what the president said by arming people .

 

Aside the fact that you called on the IGP to begin to investigate the activities of Ebubeagu in Ebonyi State, I am also looking at have you considered Constitutional arrangement maybe begin to engage with State House of Assembly to see how they can re-align the workings of Ebubeagu in the State

No let me tell you, before we went to court to challenge Ebubeagu, we did everything possible to even lay hands on a Copy of this Law .This Law was done without consultation, normal process. This Law has not even been gazetted.

 

It is just one of such things that is happening in Ebonyi State .You know we also have Cybercrime (Prohibition ) Law of 2021. That one is another horrible piece of Legislation that Governor Umahi has foisted on Ebonyi House of Assembly to turn out.

 

In that other law you are legislating on an existing law enacted by the National Assembly .you now see a governor asking a State House of Assembly to also make a law so that if you say anything that the governor does not like you are arrested thrown before a Magistrate Court that has no jurisdiction, the next thing you find yourself in the prison.

 

This same law has also taken away jurisdiction from the court , this will tell you the type of House of Assembly that we have something that is unthinkable . The Constitution under Section 4 & 8 of our Constitution states that you cannot oust the jurisdictional the courts. What this law states is that no court can have jurisdiction unless there is express authorization of the Attorney General of Ebonyi State .

 

Ebonyi State House of Assembly is inside the pocket of the Governor, We cannot engage the State House of Assembly, normal people cannot engage with them, it is not possible to engage with them , there was no Public Hearing ,you just woke up one day to hear there is an Ebonyi State Security Agency Law and they started implementing it .

 

This Cybercrime Law nobody has ever seen it ,if not that we wanted to go to court and went extra mile to get people whether they can find this law, you need to know what is happening in Ebonyi State .The issue of engaging with the. House of Assembly is a non strata.