Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

Governor of Ebonyi Stae,  David Umahi has pledged support for the on-going operation restore peace which is ongoing in the southeast region of Nigeria.

Hé states this when he received the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the South East Zone, DIG Joseph Egbunike at the Executive Council Chambers of the old Government House, Abakaliki on Friday.

Governor Umahi lauded the Nigeria Police Force for their resilience in the fight against insecurity in parts of the Country.

“Let me thank you Egbunike, you are an action man, we are very very proud of you, we are proud of you as a National person who has the entire interest of Nigerians at heart, and we are proud of you that not many of our people who get to your level come to identify with our people because the best you can do to your master is to tell him the truth, tell him the feelings of the people and we are happy you are here and we are very happy of what you are doing.

“All our people needed is to educate them and so, there is the need for everyone to join you to educate our people and we feel so sad that it is only in the South East that people are attacking police Stations and policemen and we are not in any full-scale war.”

Governor Umahi called on Security Agencies to enforce existing Social media laws to save the Nigeria Nation from imminent collapse as a result of fake news.

He announced that the State Government would soon come up with a law to tackle the menace of fake news which he noted breeds docial unrest in the society.

“The most dangerous attack on the Nigerian Nation is fake news, we have sufficient laws to checkmate this fake news.

“I can assure you that we are doing everything we can to reorientate these boys, we have offered amnesty, my position is that this agitation should be aggregated to enable leaders to engage the center, we are not the only ones that are marginalized and no one is burning down police Stations and killing policemen except the southeast”

Governor Umahi also lauded the Acting Inspector General of Police, Baba Usman for his efficient Leadership of the Police Force and urged him to sustain the breakthrough.

DIG Egbunike told the governor that he was in the state to present his mission and seek for support for the new police security effort code-named, Operation Restore Peace in the South East.

He noted that the operation, which was flagged off recently at the Michael Okpara Square in Enugu by the Acting Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, is part of the government’s efforts to address growing insecurity, attacks on security infrastructure and secessionist agitations in the Zone.

Egbunike said: “I have come here on a simple mission, a simple mission called Operation Restore Peace”.

“Operation Restore Peace is an operation that was well-articulated, well-informed and well-collated before the arrival of that name Operation Restore Peace.

“ Operation Restore Peace took cognizance of the culture of the Igbo man; it took cognizance of the Igbo man’s spartan nature; it took cognizance that an Igbo man is a peaceful person.

‘It also took cognizance that the government cannot sit down and watch a group or certain group making the majority suffer without taking appropriate action to bring them before the law and to ensure that we, the majority get the benefits of the society”.

DIG Egbunike opined that no society gets what it desires through restiveness or violence but dialogue and diplomacy.

He also noted that most of the victims of these killings and attacks are Igbos.

“I have analyzed the people who are victims of the burning of police stations, burning of INEC offices … The statistics of police stations and police men killed has shown that 5/6 of the people killed are the Igbo people. So why are you killing your brother because you are agitating for a cause.”

He further reminded the people that most of the Police Stations were built by host communities and wondered how the people would raise money to build new ones after these spates of destructions.

DIG also applauded Ebonyi for the lasting prevailing in the state and in infrastructure. In his words: “Ebonyi is the case of learning for every Igbo man”.