The Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, has called on government at all levels to resist attempts by some people to create opportunity for “professional anarchists” to invade the country and destabilize it.
Ikpeazu, while commenting on the recent clash between herdsmen and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) in the state, said some evil forces were bent on destabilizing the country.
The Governor featured on ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme of Channels Television on Wednesday, where he also spoke the ban of open grazing in the South-East.
Ikpeazu, who noted that Abia was among the first in the region to ban open grazing, said, “our interest is not to generally profile the Hausas or Fulani as people are doing now, we are interested in the criminal elements”.
Ikpeazu described professional anarchists as those interested in creating ungoverned spaces, anarchy, confusion and further destabilize the nation.
He also highlighted religion, ethnicity, partisanship as some of the factors being used by such people to create confusion.
“…now in the South-East, we have another group calling themselves Eastern militant something and everyone is watching.
“What is the aim of these people? There is no philosophy about what they drive, no motive except that they want to create ungoverned places and an ungoverned enclave for this professional anarchist to step into our country and eventually stabilized the country.
“If we continue to pamper the issue and pamper the problem, their agenda is devilish and they are determined to execute the problem. I think we are diverting the attention of Nigerians and allowing them to execute what they plan to do.
Ikpeazu also warned that, “Selective dissemination of punishments and sanctions against people or suspected criminals may be parachute for anarchy,” adding that “we have more serious issues in our hands than we are prepared to admit at this point”.
The governor also said that although the state enacted policies that have helped managed legal Fulani herdsmen and farmers therein, criminal elements “who may not have cows” take advantage of the protection these herdsmen have to perpetrate evil.
“Our people are nice, and they are taking advantage of this to unleash mayhem we have noticed that, and we are on their train targeting those people, and we are going to rout them and punish them and those are the people we cannot guarantee their safety.
“But for anybody doing genuine business in our land, the government will do everything to protect such an individual,” he said.
He further called on the all cadres of government to focus on fighting the common enemy of insecurity by enacting uniform policies that best defeat criminal elements of banditry, kidnappings and other vices “irrespective of the state of origin, business, location or background”.
