South-East Governors, including those of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo, Yesterday, unveiled a security outfit, Ebube Agu, to curtail the rising insecurity in the region. Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, Dave Umahi, made the announcement on Sunday. Ebube Agu, with its headquarters in Enugu, is charged with the responsibility to coordinate all the activities of vigilantes in the Southeast, and to checkmate rising unrest in the region. It will also complement the efforts of federal security agencies in tackling the security challenges in the region. Ebube Agu, meaning fear of a lion in Ibo, is fashioned after the Southwest security outfit, Amotekun, launched early last year. The governors, in a communiqué issued in Owerri at the end of a meeting, asked the heads of security agencies in the zone to draw up a comprehensive list of their logistics and material needs that will enhance their efficiency in combating the security challenges in the zone, so that the governors could provide them.
The meeting was the first gathering of the governors since last week’s attacks by gunmen who invaded the headquarters of the state police command, torching about 100 vehicles and freeing some detainees.
The governors committed themselves to join the federal government to fight terrorists and bandits.
They also “resolved to bring together all the arsenals at their command, as one united zone, to fight and flush out criminals and terrorists from the zone.
In the communiqué they explained that to achieve this, “there is a need to galvanize all the relevant stakeholders in the South-east, the political class, the business community, the bureaucrats and the intelligentsia to provide all necessary support to security operatives in the five South-east states to ensure total success in the fight against criminality in the zone.”
The heads of all the security agencies in the South-east have resolved to exchange intelligence in a seamless, effective new order that will help to checkmate crime in the zone.
“To fast-track crime-busting in the South-east, the heads of security agencies have been mandated to draw up a comprehensive list of their logistics and material needs for sustainable success in the fight against criminality, for the immediate provision by the leadership of the South-east,” the communiqué added.
“The meeting resolved to maintain a joint security vigilante for the South-east otherwise known as Ebube Agu. The meeting appreciated the formation of South-east joint security outfit code-named Ebube Agu, with headquarters in Enugu to coordinate our vigilante in the South-east,” the communiqué explained.
“Meeting agreed that open grazing has been banned and the security agency should implement the ban.
“The meeting encouraged a peaceful co-existence of farmers and herders to allow governors to succeed in the fight against criminality,” the communiqué added.
