BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
The Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora has called for the proscription of the Ebubeagu Security outfit in the state, as well as the sack of the Commissioner of Police, Garba Aliyu, over alleged negligence of duty.
The group, headed by Pascal Oluchukwu, made the calls in a statement signed and made available to journalists in Abakaliki, the state capital, recently sequel to the insecurity in the state.
AESID also called for the unconditional release of Chika Nwoba, spokesperson of the People’s Democratic Party in the state who is currently in police custody over allegations of cybercrime.
Their statement read in parts, “The Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in the Diaspor raise the alarm over the incessant and persistent attacks being unleashed against dissenting and opposition voices in Ebonyi State by government mercenaries operating under the guise of Ebubeagu Security Network and a controversial, anti-democratic Cyber Crime Prohibition Law criminally assented to, last year, by the state governor, David Umahi.
“In Ebonyi State, the past few weeks have left social media users, critics of the state government and indeed, members of the opposition People’s Democratic Party in particular in a thunderbolt as government, thugs and agents have been clamping down on them, abducting, torturing and handing over critics to the Police at points of near death.
“Most disturbing is the arrest, torture and continuous detention of the spokesman of the PDP, Nwoba Chika Nwoba, in custody despite the grievous bodily harms he received and against the orders of an Ebonyi Magistrate Court that he should be allowed to first go and receive medical treatments.
“To say that the constitutional Freedom of Information enjoyed in other states of the federation and the FCT has since taken a flight in Ebonyi is to put it very mildly.
“The hurried passage of the so-called Cybercrime Prohibition Law No. 012 by the members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly without due process and public hearing and the equally hurried assent to this dubious law by the Governor of Ebonyi State, last year, stands very condemned by this group.
“Members of Ebubeagu Security Network which, unlike their Amotekun counterparts in the South-West, was constituted to checkmate the excesses of marauding herders who have been killing farmers in the region, have abandoned their supposed mandate to become a witch-hunting tool to hound, hack and crackdown on opposition elements and critics in Ebonyi State.
“In the last two weeks, no fewer than 10 persons have been arrested under the guise of this obnoxious law and not less than 7 persons have been killed in various parts of the state (two in Akpoha, Afikpo North LGA; one in Akaeze in Ivo LGA, another in Ugwuachara in Abakaliki, two in Ikwo LGA, and numerous other incidents of Ebubeagu-initiated terror acts against our people that we may not readily mentioned for want of space.
“It is needless to recount the ordeals of many journalists who the state government had vowed to continue to chastise with koboko and life bans if they think they have the pen.
“We call on the Inspector General of Police to, without delay, relieve the state’s Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Garba, of his appointment having been unduly compromised by the Ebonyi State Government so much so that the Police cannot even arrest or disagree with the members of the Ebubeagu Security outfit terrorizing innocent and harmless citizens.”
