Insecurity: We’ve degraded capabilities of kidnappers– Abia Govt.

…Operation Crush, yielding results

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia,

Abia State government says it has degraded the capabilities of kidnappers in the state through deliberate and conscious security engagements.

Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Navy Commodore Macdonald Uba (Rtd.) who jointly addressed newsmen on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council (EXCO) meeting on monday, said this and other security measures were to ensure peace and security in the state and for businesses to thrive.

Uba who gave snippets of security steps taken against criminals, said security agencies in the state carried out a sting operation at the Lokpanta Cattle Market in Umunneochi local government area of the state where it demolished shanties, brothels and bunks suspected to be hideouts of kidnappers and other criminal elements terrorizing the state.

The retired military officer said the demolition exercise was carried out after the Uturu-Lokpanta-Umunneochi area was discovered to be kidnappers’ axis.  

Said Uba: “I am pleased to announce to you that the vision and mission of His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, is to ensure that Abia is the Number One State in all ramifications. And for us to achieve that feat, there must be security of lives and property.

“So, to drive this home, we have, since we took over the reins of power in the state, been bedeviled by incessant kidnapping, car hijacks and all other forms of criminality and this has been traced to a particular locality which has been termed as axis of kidnapping – the Uturu-Lokpanta-Umunneochi (Isuochi) axis.

“In the past weeks, you have seen deliberate efforts of government in providing lightening for our streets and all other activities to ensure that there will be no hideouts.

“The government also went ahead to launch Operation Crush and it is the result of the launching of this operation that is yielding the desired results.

“We have been able to start unlocking the centre of gravity of those kidnappers, which on Friday, (September 22, 2023), we went a step further to degrade their capabilities by the operations we carried out at the Cattle Market in Lokpanta.

We were able to demolish most of those shanties, brothels and bunks where all manner of illicit drugs are taken, etc. this will enable us to achieve our aim with ease – a crime-free Abia; and it is only in a place, city, state or country where there is peace and security that business and development will thrive.

“By this, we are also sending a stern warning to those who think they will make this place their haven to be able to perpetrate all manners of criminalities that this government will not tolerate any of those acts, going forward.

“That’s an assurance and it is the wish and aspiration of His Excellency to rid this state of all forms of criminality and he is actually putting his money where his mouth is.”

Prefacing the security issue in the state during the briefing, the Commissioner for Information and Culture, noted that government has taken strategic steps to end kidnapping around the axis identified with the heinous crime, adding that government’s efforts in ensuring peace and security was equally geared towards driving economic growth of the state.

“The Otti-led government was determined to rid the state of all forms of criminality, especially, kidnapping for ransom,” he said, adding that the news of incidents of kidnapping around Isuikwuato area has waned.

Kanu noted that there has been an appreciable level of peace and security since the inception of the Otti-led administration. “This is because of certain deliberate actions that government has been taking to ensure that there is peace in the state. Government has been trying to create an enabling environment to make businesses thrive by trying to ensure that all those factors that create insecurity are avoided,” he stressed.

He attributed the successes being recorded in the bid to curb insecurity and criminality in the state to making the right investments to create alternatives which would create job opportunities.

“Government is making the right investments in the right areas to ensure that there is security because you will agree with me that when government invests in road infrastructure, when government invests in lighting up the streets in Umuahia and Aba, lighting up the express roads, why government is doing this is to create job opportunities for Abians and investors.

“We believe that through that strategy, if people are gainfully employed in one way or the other, issues of insecurity will be greatly reduced. So, it is a very strategic move that government has embarked upon. It has not been a brick-and-mortar sense of containing insecurity but using a number of strategic investments in the real sector to ensure that opportunities are created for Abians to have jobs,” the Commissioner said.