The Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) has authorized the establishment of a Bureau for Missing Persons in the Ministry of Justice in response to the return of Biafra agitation and the unrest that followed it in the state during the past two years.
According to Community reporters, the establishment of the Bureau is part of the interim recommendation earlier made by the Truth, Justice and Peace Commission (TJPC) in its Inception Report earlier submitted to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo (CFR), Governor of Anambra State, on the 17th of February 2023.
A release issued by the state Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu, explained that the job of the Bureau is to trace cases of missing persons and coming up with the needed database to support Police investigations and eventual prosecution of suspects by the Ministry of Justice.
Recall that on the 23rd of June 2022, Governor Soludo, pursuant to the Commission of Inquiry Law of Anambra State, inaugurated the Truth, Justice and Peace Commission which has Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu as the chairman, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu as the secretary and Professor Sylvia Chike Ifemeje as one of its Commissioners.
The Commission’s Inception Report also recommended the following: 1. A whole-of-government strategy that locates atrocity violence within a public health framework.
2. Professionalization and effective coordination of vigilante services in the state. 3. Institutionalizing deliverables for the Ministry of Security and Homeland Affairs. 4. Establishing an Anambra Integrated Civic Surveillance System (ANICSS) and 5.
Establishing an Anambra State Safety and Environmental Commission (ASSEC)
TJPC’s initial terms of reference are: To identify the remote and immediate causes of the agitations, restiveness, violence and armed struggle in the Southeast since 1999; To document victims/circumstances of death, brutality and incarceration as well as identify stakeholders and groups who have played critical roles in agitations and conflicts, their roles, capabilities and demands.
Lastly, the Commission is expected to address any other issue(s) that may be germane to unravelling the extent of the crisis and charting the roadmap for the future, and make recommendations for sustainable peace and security in Anambra State/Southeast.
