THE Anambra State governor Charles Soludo has told the new General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, Umar Musa, that anyone living in a camp in the state is a criminal.
Soludo stated this at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, when he received the new GOC at the weekend.
This was disclosed in a statement by the spokesperson to the governor, Christian Aburime.
“Anybody in any camp in Anambra State is a criminal. We consider the person a kidnapper, and we treat the person as such. There is no way light and darkness can co-exist. Without law and order, nothing else will work.
“If you cordon off the boundaries between Anambra and Imo in a joint operation, you squeeze and take them (gunmen) out,” Soludo said.
The governor emphasised that those behind the insecurity in the South-East were criminals, insisting that the attackers had nothing to do with Biafran agitation.
He extended his condolences to the Nigerian Army on the recent attack by unknown gunmen at Umunze, which resulted in the death of three soldiers and a civilian.
“Anytime I hear that a law enforcement agent is killed, my heart bleeds,” he said.
The new GOC, who took over from Taoreed Lagbaja, stated that he visited the governor to inform him of his assumption of duty.
Musa said the army was aware of the security situation in the South-East and promised to partner with the governor and other governors in the region to fight the crisis.
“We discovered that Anambra and Imo states are volatile, and that gives us serious concern. The issue of (Biafra) agitation is there, but people capitalise on it to commit a crime,” he said.
He disclosed that he had devoted two months of his stay in the division to studying the insecurity in the South-East to fashion out ways of tackling it.
“Cases of attacks pose new challenges. I assure you of the total commitment of the Nigerian army,” he added.
The GOC blamed drug abuse for the high incidence of crime in the country.
A reporter with the ICIR
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