South-East governors meet in Enugu over security challenges
Against the background of the spate of security challenges in the South-East, the five governors of the zone met at the Enugu State Government House on Sunday to brainstorm on how to address the problem.
The South-East region has been experiencing a series of attacks recently by gunmen who attack security formations, terrorise residents and also kidnap for ransom.
Sunday’s meeting had in attendance Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, and his Ebonyi State counterpart, Dave Umahi with the host governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who was on hand to receive them.
However, Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma and his Anambra State counterpart, Professor Charles Soludo did not attend the meeting as they were represented by their deputies respectively.
This will be their first meeting for the year after they gathered in January 2022. They had also met on June 11, 2021, when they had joint security deliberations with the Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbeshola, Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabour, and other service chiefs.
A communiqué will be issued at the end of the closed-door meeting. But sources expect the governors to also discuss the issue of the embattled leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu who is still being held in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Kanu is being prosecuted by the Federal Government on various treason and terrorism-related charges.
Two weeks ago, the Appeal Court in Abuja dropped all charges against separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu after ruling that he had been illegally arrested abroad.
Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okojie who led the appellate court’s panel had on 13 October held that the Federal Government broke local and international laws by forcibly re-arresting and returning Kanu to Nigeria.
However, in a ruling on Friday, Haruna Tsanami leading a panel of the Court of Appeal, in Abuja, ordered that the enforcement of the judgment releasing Kanu be put on hold.
The Federal Government had applied that the execution of the judgment is suspended pending the resolution of its appeal filed at the Supreme Court
