In the past one week, the Udo Ga Chi Security Operations (aka Agunechemba), has come under intense criticism following the assault on a female corps member. OKEY MADUFORO reports on politics and intrigues trailing the demand for its dissolution
The reason for the establishment of the Anambra Vigilante Services (AVS) decades ago by the then Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju is not lost on many Anambra people. It was driven by the desire to end the menace of armed robbery in the state.
At some point, families spent nights in churches in a bid to escape the barrels of criminals who went on house-to-house robbery and sometimes, after writing letters to residents informing them in due time that they would come visiting.
The taking over of security operations by the then Bakassi Boys brought calm to the state as most miscreants fled, hence providing respite for the major cities in the area. While the state relished this peace, stories of unprofessional conduct became a paradox of what was expected of them.
However, allegations from the then Anambra People’s Forum (APF) had it that political opponents were being attacked by the Bakassi Boys, hence the call for its dissolution few months to the conduct of the 2003 general election.
Political opponents contended that there existed fake Bakassi Boys that were being used to harass and intimidate them, adding that so many innocent people have been killed in the name of fighting armed robbers.
So, in the month of September 2002, a special security squad from Abuja took Anambra by the storm, arrested scores of members of the Bakassi Boys and disarmed the outfit. That indeed gave political opponents the safe haven to fight late Mbadinuju to submission, and he not only lost the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial ticket but also lost his second term ambition in the 2003 elections.
Will history repeat itself ?
From all indications, history is on the verge of repeating itself in the state. Like some of his predecessors, Governor Charles Soludo, has been under fire from the trio of Chief George Moghalu of the Labour Party, Sir Paul Chukwuma of the Young Democratic Party (YPP) and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The trio have accused Soludo of using the Agunechemba Security Squad during the last by elections. Hence, they are urging the Federal Government to look into the matter.
They have also called for the dissolution of the security outfit noting that the body would be used to fight political opponents. Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, shortly after the Anambra South Senatorial District and Onitsha North 1 State Constituency by-election had accused the Anambra State Government of using the Agunechemba Security Squad to harass and intimidate voters on the day of the said election. He alleged that the Deputy Governor Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim of master minding the incident which has been dismissed by government authorities.
According to one of Ukachukwu’s campaign organization members, Comrade Tony Uche, Agunechemba Security Squad is a ploy to force Anambra voters into voting for a candidate that is not of their choice and this may play out in subsequent elections in the state. Uche said: “If you see the number of the Vigilante personnel that came with them on over 20 trucks to highjack the election but the youths resisted them.”
Also, in reaction to the assault on the female corps member, Moghalu expressed similar fears; “This is devoid of politics and I stand in my position to say that Udo Ga Chi should be disbanded and trained before you can constitute them to as a security outfit”
“I call on the Federal Government to come into this matter because the girl in question is a corps member on National service to her father land and the Udo Ga Chi people are exceeding their bounds. He should be protected by the Federal Government because she is on National service and she is a proper of the federal government”
Moghalu expressed fears that the security outfit may be used to attack political opponents in the November 8th gubernatorial election urging the Federal government to look into the matter. “Even their activities in the last by election has shown that they we constituted for the November 8th gubernatorial election in Anambra State”
“We are waiting for them in November 8th gubernatorial election and we are demanding that the Federal Government should provide enough security in the November election to checkmate the activities of this state government security outfit” he said.
His counterpart in the YPP, Sir Paul Chukwuma, also described the assault on the female corps member as a prelude to what may happen in the coming election.
“The government’s carefree attitude has further exacerbated the abuse by this setup, always in the news for extorting Ndi Anambra, killing them, or abusing them. Yet, the insecurity in Anambra State has continued to escalate with no clear end in sight”
“This particular incident must not be swept under the carpet, like the ones before it. I am calling on the Government of Anambra State to take a firm stance against these public abusers and bring them to justice. I also call on the security agencies to ensure that these abusers are not only rounded up, but are compelled to face the law,” he said.
Beneath the clamour
True to the nature of Governor Soludo, those clamour for the dissolution of Agunechemba Security Squad are mere rantings. All the while, Soludo has kept a studied silence over the issue but has reached out to the female corps member and family to make amends.
To the Governor, the Agunechemba Security Squad has come to stay and there is no going back or backing down on the security outfit. But security watchers contend that the gunmen are having a fields day and are planning fresh onslaughts on the boundaries of the state.
Interestingly, those clamouring for the withdrawal of the outfit do not seem to provide an alternative to Agunechemba Security Squad. For now, has also been gathered that most communities that appeared to have been liberated by the outfit are now leaving in fear as the gunmen are fast reclaiming their lost territories.
The Coordinator APGA Media Warriors Evangelist Chinedu Obigwe, said those protesting against the security outfit fail to understand the enormity of their demands and the grave implications of disbandment of the outfit.
“Ukachukwu is from Osumenyi in Nnewi South Local Government Area and his town has been at the receiving end of insecurity which Governor Soludo has been tackling head long and that has provided him with the courage to visit his home at will without fear. But he has not made any effort to commend the good works of the governor and this is the same with his co-travelers such as George Moghalu and Paul Chukwuma,” he said.
Obigwe accused the trio of setting an agenda to raise alarm that insecurity has returned to Anambra State once the outfit is dissolved ahead of the November 8th gubernatorial election. He said if that is done crimes and criminality would return to our state and they would use it as a campaign propaganda against the governor.
Discipline in the Squad
Recall that before the launch of Security Squad, Governor Soludo was accused severally of abdicating his primary duties of protecting lives and property. Soludo was also accused of paying lip service to issues of insecurity and was tasked to be decisive about the challenges of the eight local government areas of Anambra South and North Senatorial Districts.
Granted that the eight operatives of the Security Squad erred in the discharge of their duties, they have since been arrested and charged to court as done to even erring operatives of the national security agencies. Hence, further fueling the political motives behind the clamour for the dissolution of the squad.
More interesting is the fact that similar state-government-owned security agents like Amotekun are in existence in other states and have not been scrapped in the face of any excesses. Noy a few Anambarians believe that the dissolution of Agunechemba Security Squad would spell doom in the state and ultimately send the state back to those days of horror and panic.
Hence, it has been suggested that government should rejig the security operatives through training and retraining as was canvased by Chief Moghalu, rather than discarding the baby and the birthwater.
Already, the Prince Kenneth Emeakayi-led security outfit is currently undergoing profiling of its operatives over drug abuse and membership of secret cults. This is more so as an outfit of this magnitude that cost tax payers money shouldn’t be dissolved in view of its significant roles so far played in fighting insecurity.
Anambra has a peculiar verifiable security problem and observers believe that calling for the proscription of this outfit on the altar of politics will not guarantee the collective security of the people, but only serve the interest of politicians working for a return of anarchy.
