Insecurity: ‘Why Southeast governors should hide our faces in shame’

The Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi has said Governors of the South East region are currently hiding their faces in shame

David Umahi who also doubles as the Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum stated this in Abakaliki, the State capital on Sunday when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo paid the State a condolence visit

According to Umahi, the Fulani herdsmen that the government fought hard to protect are the ones killing innocent people.

Umahi said, “Even when the killings happened; very unprovoked killings, some people said they gave the governor of Ebonyi State 21 days to resign. We have been called all kinds of names and we feel ashamed that the same people we fight for day and night as governors and leaders of South-East to ensure the oneness of this country would know about attacks on Ebonyi State and they were asked to leave and they left, and we were slaughtered and killed.

“What face do we have then to face our people? We feel so ashamed to face our people. When this thing happened, Your Excellency, there was going to be very violent retaliation. But I thank God for the leaders of this state. I thank God for CAN, the youths and traditional rulers.

“We immediately called for a stakeholders’ meeting and reached an agreement and said for the interest of this country, there would be no retaliation. But we are happy that you (Osinbajo) have a document that has been given to you.

“We are not saying it shouldn’t be investigated, but that document is information that came from the phone of the murderers and that’s what the community printed out and handed over to you. We demand a proper investigation

Umahi said that three communities, Obeagu, Egedegede and Amiazu in Ishielu Council area and Effium community in Ohaukwu Local Government’s Area of the State needed five billion naira from the Federal Government to rebuild their homes and resettle.

“We demand that justice be given to the victims. This is the agreement and this is the promise I made to the people of Ebonyi State during our extra ordinary meeting on how to calm the situation.

“But it is also very annoying that herdsmen in other parts of the state are being asked to quit because they want to attack again. This is one attack that must not be attempted. This is because as the chief security officer, I’m to report to the Federal Government, I may not be able to control it

“Let this madness stop. No one has the monopoly of violence, but we assure the Federal Government that there will be no retaliation, believing that justice will be done. This is because what was provided this afternoon by way of information is good enough to unravel what happened to us.

“We plead with the Federal Government to assist the people of Egedegede with the sum of N2bn so that they rebuild their homes and settle down.

“On the unfortunate killings in Effium community, we are equally pleading with the Federal Government to assist the people with the sum of #3bn so they can rebuild their homes”.

Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated that the Federal Government has deployed 200 soldiers to the troubled regions of Effium community in the Ohaukwu council area and the Egedegede, Obeagu and Nkaleha communities of Ishielu Local Government Area to address the security challenges.

He also assured the people that justice would prevail.

“There are times when incident like this happens, when people are killed and you feel particularly outraged about what has happened. Over 200 police and army men have been deployed to those communities. We’ll do all we can to bring justice to the people”.