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By Madu Obi
Labour Party stalwart and 2025 governorship aspirant in Anambra State, Valentine Ozigbo, has urged the state government to pay more attention and take positive action towards tackling the insecurity challenges bedeviling the state.
Describing insecurity as the state's number one problem, Ozigbo said it is utterly unacceptable that the lives of Anambra people are not being secured, which, according to him, is the primary role of government in line with Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He accused Governor Chukwuma Soludo of breaking his “Contract With Anambra People”, lamenting that Anambra is still bedeviled with kidnapping for ransom, banditry, farmers-herders clashes, cult and drug related criminality and communal disputes, which were the things he promised to deal with head-on.
Ozigbo said: "Indeed, our governor has fallen short squarely. He has clearly broken the contract with Anambra people which are encapsulated in his governing documents - Anambra Vision 2070—a 50-Year Development Plan, The Soludo Solution: and 'The Transition Committee (Combined) Report.'
Looking at his performance indices on his personally assigned goals, the governor has been very tall in rhetoric and very short in execution. In some cases, he is the direct cause of the disorder.
What the governor has failed to realize is that when it comes to issues of security, certain truths are better left off the public domain.
What is required are firm, resolute and sustainable decisions and actions executed outside public glare, but which enhance the wellbeing of the people.
It is becoming crystal clear that there is no solution by Soludo to the issue of insecurity in Anambra State. It is either he thinks words alone would make insecurity go away, or he doesn’t think it deserves enough attention, which is not good enough for Anambra.”
He urged the governor to give hope to the people in words and in deeds and to build hope.
"You must earn the trust of the people, speak less and do more, be empathetic, genuine and humble," he advised the governor.
He also spoke on the need to develop good relationship with security agencies, such as the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Security (DSS), Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN), Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Vigilante Services.
“Through these agencies, we must pursue and cement the ideals of community policing as it is very dear to my heart as a major plank of solving the security challenges that Anambra State faces.
This is because for internal security to be strengthened and made to work, participation of the people at community levels is paramount.
This ensures that everyone participates in the process of protecting themselves, securing their own lives and the lives of people in their community. The current reactive posture must give way to a bold proactive stance that relies on more reliable information and actionable real-time intelligence for crime prevention.
There should be training and retraining of members of the AVS including other Security Services in this direction, for effective discharge of their duties. The security architecture of Anambra State must be made to work for Ndi Anambra and not exist for rhetoric sake,” Ozigbo said.
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