The South East geographical zone of Nigeria—Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states—has been besieged by criminals recently.
The media reports daily murders, kidnappings, and assassinations of political and social leaders.
Like many other regions, violent crimes in the south East are nothing new. Until democracy returned in May 1999, it was part of life.
The government’s lax approach to combating and apprehending criminals has terrorised many residents while the nasty trend continues.
Recently, many political figures in the zone did not shut their eyes, fold their hands, and witness wanton, mindless, and audacious executions and kidnappings.
Bakasi Boys
In the early 20s, Abia and Anambra state governors formed pseudo-security operatives to alleviate insecurity. The Bakassi Boys helped restore peace and security in the states.
While many rights organisations criticised the security unit, which was disbanded a few months after its formation, it helped ferret out criminals in these states.
These two states’ security deteriorated again years following the Bakasi Boys’ disbandment. Killings, kidnappings, and other violent crimes were commonplace.
Local violent crime reports
Anambra State Governor Peter Obi swore in five commissioners on July 17, 2012. Chike Okoli was one. He became commissioner of the Ministry of Science and Technology till Mr Obi’s administration ended in March 2014.
Two months later, on May 21, 2014, Chike left Awka, the state capital, for Nanka, his hometown in Orumba South LGA. Still waiting. He was unaware of his fateful voyage.
Chike was taken by SUV-driving males in Agulu, near Nanka.
Chike has been missing since they received most of their N16 million ransom. Chike was widely reported as being “abducted by unknown gunmen.”
In the first six months 2009, Anambra State had over 60 violent crime deaths.
In 2009, Nigeria’s security authorities ranked Southeast states Abia, Anambra, and Imo among the top five kidnapping states. In December 2009, Voice of America ascribed these Southeast trends to “criminality and bloodshed from the emergence of armed gangs.”
One year later, in the fourth quarter of 2010, Aba, Abia State’s economic hub, was “under the tight grasp of abduction militia.”
Bakasi Boys’ security is feared.
The thoroughly examined security report designed to rouse people and have a knock-on impact on delivering sustainable solutions was brushed under the carpet, escalating security in the state and zone.
But, blaming non-state actors for the zone’s rising security crisis is incorrect.
IPOB did not exist when unknown assassins brutally killed the then-Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Onitsha, Barnabas Igwe, and his wife, Abigail, on September 1, 2002.
Three years later, the recently dead Anambra State Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju was acquitted of procuring the double murder of Mr. and Mrs. Igwe. Unknown assailants.
Naturally, non-state actors are not exempt from violence in the South East, especially when they can no longer manage their members’ threats.
The zone’s violence isn’t limited to gangs or non-state entities. The month before the Ozubulu Massacre, hundreds of dead young men were discovered floating on the Ezu River in Anambra State in a mass extermination that seemed to be the work of the Special Armed Robbery Unit (SARS).
In the early hours of February 7, 2001, about 150 armed Police Mobile Force members invaded the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) national headquarters in Okigwe, Imo State, murdering hundreds of unarmed protestors. The raid’s ” casualties were strewn everywhere.” MASSOB listed 2,020 members murdered by Nigerian security forces in May 2008.
Ebubeagu Security
Our lawmakers have failed to address small gun proliferation. Some political observers say this mentality is understandable.
Political bigots who see elections as life or death recruit hundreds of local teenagers into violent gangs every election year.
During the 2007 Enugu state gubernatorial election, hundreds of youths were heavily armed to kill anybody who opposed the governing party.
Political violence between the government and opposition parties killed several adolescents.
Several well-meaning zone residents have asked what happens to such sophisticated weaponry after the elections.
They won’t inform you they’re utilised for terrorism and banditry once the procurers lose elections.
