Governor Chibuike Amaechi did something unbelievable of a distinctive
Nigerian governor on 17th May, 2012. His speedy response through a
television broadcast quelling the minds of the residents on the explosion
which nearly sent the residents packing does not only require commendation
but has taught the residents that the governor was not ruling the state
from abroad as was a speculation in many quarters before the incident.
This television broadcast is an eloquently assurance by the state
government in reiterating its promise that the residents are assured of
their security, if the number one citizen of the state could give the
residents an unflinching optimism that he’s always with them at anytime.
Amaechi being present within the period has taught something: There is no
amount of details of armed robbery activities that were capable of
deterring Rivers State, which initially experienced virtually an hour
occurrence of armed robbery activities around banks in the state capital,
Port Harcourt; but this has been reduced to the barest diminution.
It is relatable that criminals stayed away from Rivers State because even
the ‘land’ and everything therein have joined hands in the fight against
criminality as the residents have witnessed in the dynamite that exploded
around Rumuokoro which incapacitated the alleged “bank robbers” from
carrying out their shoddy business on that day.
Amaechi is walking his talk on security. It could be recalled that in a
national newspaper of 7th November 2011, Amaechi spoke through his Chief
Press Secretary, Mr. David Iyofor that he was on ground in making sure that
the state is a nonviolent place to reside and devoid of inhumane activities
of the men of the underworld.
His warning that criminals should stay away from the state, could be seen
that it was not a mere rhetoric as peace has returned to the state, except
for those who dread peace and invite violent activities for their selfish
and demonic purposes.
In the aforementioned month of 2011, Iyofor said: “The governor is working
tirelessly in collaboration with security agencies in the state and would
stop at nothing to ensure that these acts of criminality are nipped in the
bud.”
Amaechi was so pained that criminals in the state then were targeting banks
and their customers because of the yuletide season of 2011. And Iyofor
whispered: “Our investigations have revealed that these robberies are
perpetrated by gangs who are in a mad rush for money to spend in the fast
approaching yuletide season. These bank and associated robberies we are
seeing in the past few weeks are Christmas related. But we want to assure
residents of the State that new and fresh security measures are now in
place to deal with these criminals. We want to assure residents of Port
Harcourt that we are on the trail of these criminal gangs, and sooner than
later, they would have to answer for all their heinous crimes. Specific
security arrangements have been put in place to deal with these criminal
elements. We urge the people to remain calm and extremely vigilant as they
go about their daily business.”
While the Amaechi-led government achievements on security is admirable, it
should originate steps towards engaging adequate and qualified manpower in
its primary and post primary steps in ensuring security, with the
traditional rulers empowered and the communities always sensitized through
the media of the dangers of insecurity if allowed in the state.
The traditional rulers should be subjected to screening examination to
ascertain their saintliness in the environments that they rule.
Just as the Amaechi-led government was reportedly has built over 2, 590 new
primary schools and model schools in some local government areas of the
state, while many more are at various stages of completion, it should think
about building Army checkpoints at every strategically areas of the state,
like the one it built for Police near the old Toll Gate at Iriebe, Port
Harcourt.
Why this is important is because the development will to a great extent
reduce the number of petty criminal reports Rivers State is recording and
transform the state to a much better one. Police should also deploy their
men on street-by-street patrol; the intention here should not be to catch
Okada riders and Keke NAPEP operators and ‘innocent youths’ who are far in
essence not the cause of the problem of insecurity of the society.
If it will be possible, Amaechi should embark on unscheduled visits to the
police stations in Rivers State as he was doing to schools, and be shocked
that many of the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) are hardly on seat hence
making the policemen under their watch to behave like sheep without
shepherds; and the inmates in their police stations are meted out with
treatments that were not supposed for a beast.
In a nutshell, the explosion in Port Harcourt which Amaechi expressed an
extraordinary emergency to, and drew attention to, he should in the same
manner un-relentlessly show the same speedy response to all sectors in
Rivers State.
We wish Amaechi the best.
