Forest Guard: Tinubu has shown interest in curbing insecurity in South-East, other regions – Ichita

Obinna Ichita, former member of Abia State House of Assembly, has commended the decision of President Bola Tinubu to establish National Forest Guard, to curb escalating insecurity across Nigeria.

Ichita, who represented Aba South State Constituency, said that by this development that President Tinubu, has further demonstrated a genuine interest in swiftly addressing the challenges and complaints in the South-East and other parts of the country.

President Tinubu, during an expanded Federal Executive Council meeting, Monday, approved the establishment of a National Forest Guard system and ordered the recruitment of over 130,000 armed operatives to secure the country’s 1,129 forest reserves.

Ichita said that the approval, which includes a mandate from each state to recruit between 2,000 and 5,000 Forest Guards, based on their capacity is one move that he feels will go a long way in securing the forest, following recent personal bitter experience.

He lamented the recent gruesome killing of one of his staff, by kidnappers along Owerri-Onitsha highway, a situation he believes that the coming of forest guards will help in curbing and restore security in local communities.

Read also: Insecurity: Reactions trail FG’s approval of Forest Guards outfit

Ichita, added that he is hopeful that the coming of the Forest Guard, will prevent further loss of lives and thus, flush out those suspected foreign elements and their local collaborators, who hide in forests across the country to kidnap and kill innocent people.

He said, “The body of Chibuzor Nkoro, an indigene of Eziama, in Aba North Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia state, who until his death, was one of my staff members, is in a mortuary in Aba.

“Chibuzor was shot dead along Ngor Okpala in Imo state on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, while driving back to Aba from Imo state. Those who killed Chibuzor also abducted one of my family members and demanded for ransom.

“This violent attack was not an isolated incident. In fact, in one instance, one of the kidnap victims paid a ransom of ₦1 billion. Yes, ₦1billion.

“By approving the establishment of Armed Forest Guards, the President has further demonstrated a genuine interest in swiftly addressing our challenges and complaints in the South-East and elsewhere.

“It is my hope and prayer that this intervention by Mr. President and subsequent engagement and coordination with the state governments, will prevent further loss of lives and thus, flush out those foreign elements and their local collaborators, who hide in our forests to kidnap and kill our people.”

The ex-lawmaker said that to secure the buy-in of the local communities, a robust information dissemination campaign must be activated as most people, especially in the South-East, have strong reservations and have developed some level of apathy towards joining various security agencies in the federation.