Vacate forests around Umunneochi now, Ikpeazu orders herders, others

*Says their safety could no longer be guaranteed

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

Following spike in insecurity around Umunneochi local Government Area of Abia State, the Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has directed herders and everyone residing in the forests around the local government to vacate the forests, saying their safety could no longer be guaranteed.

“Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu hereby directs that all settlers, herders and individuals residing inside the forests around Umunneochi LGA to vacate such locations with immediate effect. Government can no longer guarantee the safety of any person or group found to be residing in the forests around Umunneochi LGA,” the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Barr. Eze Chikamnayo, said in a statement he issued in Umuahia on Sunday, June 5, 2022.

According to the Commissioner, the Governor issued the directive after series of meetings with stakeholders following the recent kidnapping of the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Rev. Dr. Samuel Kanu Uche, penultimate Sunday, May 29, 2022.

The Prelate was kidnapped alongside the Methodist Bishop of Owerri Diocese as well as the Prelate’s Chaplain along Ihube-Lomara road in Isuochi and they were released only after their abductors had collected the N100 million ransom  they had demanded.

The high profile kidnapping incident stirred anger across the nation and particularly in Umunneochi, forcing the youths of the area to take to the streets to protest the increasing spate of insecurity in the local government which include kidnapping for ransom, killings and sundry violent crimes which have left the people living in fear in their homeland.

The youths demanded that the Regional Cattle Market in Lokpanta be relocated within seven days; dismantling of military checkpoints in the area, especially, the military checkpoint at Lomara Junction where military personnel blocked and made the Lomara – Ihube road inaccessible and where the locales alleged was serving as operational base for kidnappers, among others.

The youths said they would no longer continue to watch helplessly while their people were being kidnapped by the Fulani herders for ransom and vowed to take laws into their hands if their demands were not met.

Following the Prelate’s kidnap and protest by the youths, Governor Ikpeazu visited Umunneochi on a fact-finding mission and after several meetings with Umunneochi leaders, stakeholders and security agencies, assured the people that the abduction of the Prelate would mark the end of kidnapping in the area.

Matching his words with action, the Governor, apart from directing all foreign elements residing in Umunneochi forests to leave immediately, further directed that all cows and herders around Umunneochi LGA should, forthwith, “be restricted strictly to the Cattle Market located at Umuchieze until a final decision is reached concerning the menace in the Cattle Market.”

According to Barr. Chikamnayo, the Governor also directed the Commissioner of Police, Abia State, alongside with Umunneochi Youths, “to provide immediate security along the Ihube to Isuochi road stretching from Ngodo through Lomara Junction all the way to Ihube.

“Upon the implementation of the above directive, the Governor directs the  Chairman of Umunneochi LGA, Chief Ifeanyi Madu, to  open the road leading from Ihube through Lomara Junction to  Ngodo Isuochi immediately.

“The Commissioner of Police, Abia State, has been mandated to draw up logistic requirements for mounting six additional check points at strategic locations across Umunneochi LGA,” the statement added.

The Commissioner disclosed that leadership of the youths of Umunneochi LGA, vigilante groups, hunters and the Hausa Community “will continue to meet with the Governor until an amicable solution is found to the incessant cases of Insecurity in the area.”

 “His Excellency, Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu urges all parties to show restraint and circumspection in their utterances and actions in order to maintain the peace and promote peaceful coexistence of all law-abiding citizens,” Chikamnayo said.