The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Aba, Abia State branch has condemned recent wave of insecurity in the commercial city and called on the Police and other security agencies to engage in intelligence gathering to stop perpetrators of such crimes.
This is as Police operatives attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) Aba, Abia State Command were on Sunday attacked by hoodlums, while on patrol, along Ngwa Road by Mosque junction, bringing to four, such attacks on security personnel in Aba, recently.
Charles Onuchukwu, chairman, Aba branch of NBA, in an interaction with some select journalists in Aba, noted that it was disheartening that insecurity was raising its urgly head again in Aba.
“We’ve seen the recent incidents and it’s disturbing to see how our people are losing their lives. I want to say that the government is trying, but they need to step up their efforts.
“There’s need to do a proper intelligence gathering from the angle of the police, because if they are still doing that, all these criminal activities will not be happening without arrest of the culprits.
“If you consider the gap between the attack on police officers at Opobo Junction and the recent one at Ngwa Road, by Mosque Street, you will realise that people may be living in fear with the believe that the whole city is unsecured”, he said.
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To stop the trend, Onuchukwu, urged the State Government to vote more funds into security to provide equipment and logistics for the police and other security agencies to perform well.
“Government need to step up their game, by pumping in money into security now. I’ve looked around and I can tell you that police here do not have functional operational vehicles. I know that police lack maintenance culture, but even at that, I don’t think the Government should sit and watch the Police suffer lack on logistics, needed to secure lives and property.
“So, we should look away from their lack of maintenance culture and support them to secure us. Again, let me tell us this, as the current Government is busy opening routes, by reconstructing dilapidated roads, it’ll be used by both the good and the bad. The new routes could be used by criminals, as entrance and exit routes as well as it was done for the good of people here.
“The Police need to have enough functional vehicles and the necessary materials needed to end this situation”, he noted.
He appealed to Governor Alex Otti to have a better synergy with all the law enforcement agencies in the State, know their needs, support them to make this place safe and combat the crimes that are spreading.
“With the way and manner this criminal activities are spreading, it looks as if we are having a recreation of the Osisikankwu era, which happened between 2009-2010, when everybody was running out of town”.
He however expressed confidence that Abia currently has a Governor Otti that would not allow Aba to get back to such ugly era.
