By Ugbor Samuel, Abakaliki
Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi, on Thursday, urged Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar to remove the state from zone 13 Headquarters of the Nigerian Police, Anambra State.
Umahi said the state could not belong to zone 13, saying it should be allowed to be in zone 9, Umuahia, Abia State, where it was taken to, from Zone 6 Calabar, in Cross River State.G
Governor spoke in Abakaliki while inaugurating members of the State Community Policing Committee.
50 persons were recruited from each of the 13 local government areas of the state for the community policing initiative and will be paid N30, 000 monthly.
According to Umahi, Ebonyi State was not ‘economically viable’ to be in Zone 13, saying he didn’t know who ‘smuggled’ the state to Zone 13, which according to him, was marred with bad road and insecurity.
Umahi said, “Ebonyi has not reached the level to be in Zone 13 You must know your level to succeed in life. I moved our people from Calabar to Umuahia, I don’t know who smuggled us to Awka. I have told the IG that we cannot be in Awka.
“One, the roads are bad; two, insecurity is in the area; and, three, there is so much money around that place and we don’t have money. Let us be in Umuahia and the road is straight forward. So, the best the IG would do for us is to allow us be in Umuahia. We are in Umuahia and that is where we want to be.”
Governor Umahi urged the Commissioner of Police in the Ebonyi State to strengthen security in the state, saying, “Police is more active in the day, than in the night”.
“I am still unimpressed with the security situation in Ebonyi State. I want to see SARS in the night the much I always see them, in the day.
“Armed robbers came to International Market and negotiated with the Civil Defence people manning the gate. We captured them in our Camera and the seat of that Camera is at Akanu Ibiam International Conference Centre. We are working on it and when we finished, it is going to capture all our borders, and capture very important locations.
“I hope that CP will do quickly and arraign the policemen in court and Civil Defence should do quick and dismiss them.
Umahi, however, commended the Inspector-General of Police, Adamu, for approving community policing in the country.
In his remarks, IG, who was represented by the Supervising DIG (South-East Zone), Celestine Okoye, described community policing as very important in addressing insecurity in every locality.
“Community policing is going to assist us very well so that we will be able to guard our communities. We have been invaded by lots of problems, including civil problems which we are turning to criminal problems. Community policing will address some of these problems,” DIG Okoye said.
