In spite of the insecurity ravaging parts of Nigeria’s South-East in the last few years, citizens of the region who live in other parts of the country and the world wishing to return home for this year’s Christmas and New Year festivities have been assured that they have nothing to fear.
Ahead of the celebrations, Defence Minister Mohammed Badaru Abubakar and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma asked the returning Igbo Diaspora to rest assured that their security would be guaranteed.
These assurances came on Saturday when the Defence Minister led the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division in Enugu, Major General Taiwo Dada, and other top military officers to pay a courtesy call on Governor Uzodimma at Government House Owerri, following a fruitful South-East security stakeholders meeting in Enugu.
Abubakar noted that his team was on operational visit to meet their troops in the South-East and decided to pay courtesy visit to Governor Hope Uzodimma “who has remained a supportive friend of the military”.
“Igbos who wish to come home from different parts of the world for the yuletide should feel free and come home as our men are on ground, on alert, and will do their best to protect them,” the minister said.
Abubakar disclosed that all security stakeholders in the South-East held a meeting in Enugu and that they “deliberated extensively on how to improve security in the South-East, including application of non-kinetic method”.
Governor Uzodimma echoed similar sentiment, saying his administration was prepared to secure the lives and propertyof Diaspora Igbo coming home for the Yuletide and those residing in the country.
“As for the Yuletide, our security agents are prepared and well equipped. We will continue to support them to ensure that our people go about their businesses without fear of molestation,” Uzodimma said.
He was confident that the South-East was close to the end of the tunnel as regards the issue of insecurity.
“We will soon see the light as all issues of banditry, insurgency and all manners of criminalities will soon become things of the past,” he said.
The governor described the Defence Minister as “a man with tested record of performance” and appreciated him and the leadership of all the security agencies in the country for the support they have been extending to Imo State.
“What confronted us is better imagined than experienced, but I think, to the glory of God, we have conquered,” Uzodimma said.
In his remarks, Major General Dada said the “immediate task of the Armed Forces in the South-East is to make sure that this year’s Yuletide is peaceful, like that of last year”.
“When we came on board, we employed lots of kinetic approach, but now, based on the outcome of the meeting we had yesterday (Friday), there is no doubt that we have to also explore the non-kinetic approach, whereby we engage the youths, women, members of the civil society and all stakeholders in finding lasting solution to insecurity,” he said.
He advised all “misled youths” wielding arms against the state to lay down their arms and embrace the current olive branch being extended to them.
Dada described Igboland as a “land of peace where youths should be allowed to harness their potentials and contribute to the growth of the society”.
Deputy Governor of Imo State, Lady Chinyere Ekomaru, Senator Patrick Ndubueze (representing Okigwe Zone), Secretary to the Government of Imo State, Chief Cosmas Iwu, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Barr Nnamdi Anyaehie, and other top government officials joined the Governor in receiving the guests.
