By FCC Jones
These victims, all of whom are responsible community leaders, committed to providing leadership to their people, were murdered in cold blood, while they were in active service for the betterment of their community and preservation of peace. One of them, the President of his community, and the others, village heads, were meeting to resolve issues bordering on the development and political stability of their community. No doubt, only servants of the Devil would harbour bad intentions towards such eminent patriots and heroes of peace and development.
As always, the loss of any innocent life in Imo State breaks the heart of the governor and gets him emotional as he believes that no one should die in such a way, anywhere in this State. He weeps for these unfortunate loss of lives, and mourns with close families and friends of the victims, even as he considers every Imolite and Imo resident, a beloved sibling and friend of his, to whom he owes the duty of care and adequate protection. And he does not lose sight of this responsibility, as he continues to make enormous investments towards the security of every strip of Imo territory and every single individual in the State.
These cowardly elements have been largely decimated, hence, their resort to attacking soft targets. Even at that, every Imolite can be assured that these ones, like those before them, shall be apprehended and brought to justice before the blood of their victims go cold.
It is important to note that, it is due to the governor’s proactive measures and unwavering commitment to the security of the State, that these terrorist elements and their sponsors have failed in their major ambition of turning Imo State to an ungovernable territory. More than 90% of their planned attacks across the State have been nipped in the bud, and due to advanced security gadgets which the governor has equipped our security agents with, many of the terrorist gang leaders have either been apprehended or being closed in on.
The governor has already acquired additional resources for our security agencies, and these have been deployed across the State to ensure enhanced security for all the citizens of the State. However, the citizens have a responsibility to cooperate with security operatives by providing information on the activities of suspicious individuals within their environments.
We are reassured that no one who takes the life of any Imolite would be allowed to get away with it. The justice shall be swift and specific, as the governor instructs that no innocent person should be hurt while security agencies hunt down the criminal elements. Every law abiding citizen is guaranteed that their rights shall not be tampered with and those who volunteer information that might be helpful to the operations of our security operatives are guaranteed of absolute confidentiality and incentives.
It is important to note that these isolated incidences do not remove the fact that Imo remains one of the safest States in the country for investors, tourists and fun lovers. By every available data, Imo remains one of the States with the lowest crime rates anywhere in Nigeria, and the governor shall not rest on his oars in ensuring that the very last vestiges of these sponsored criminal elements are eliminated from Imo State.
Onwuasoanya FCC Jones is the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Communication.
4th August, 2024.
