Anambra LG chair, IPOB diagree over the hiring of thugs for demolition
The Indigenous People of Biafra claimed that the Onitsha South Local Government Area in Anambra State was hiring “fake” members of the armed Eastern Security Network to carry out demolitions in the state’s commercial center of Onitsha. However, the authorities of the LGA have responded to these claims.
It is incorrect, according to Paul Onuachalla, the secretary of Onitsha South Local Government, that Chief Emeka Orji, the council’s Transitional Chairman, hired “fake” ESN agents to carry out demolitions in Onitsha.
In a press release on Sunday, Onuachalla made this assertion and added that it was malicious and completely untrue that criminals and thugs had been recruited by ESN to work as security personnel.
Remember that on Sunday, IPOB claimed in a statement issued through its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, that the chairman of the Onitsha Local Government Area had been pretending to be ESN while demolishing people’s properties in Onitsha.
Powerful declared, “Criminals are being recruited by the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, and his gofer, Emeka Orji, the Transitional Chairman of the Onitsha South Local Government Area. They are using them to threaten innocent Onitsha residents.” Emeka Orji was a criminal gang recruiter and trainer who used ESN aliases.
“IPOB/ESN is not the name of the criminal groups that Emeka Orji is leading in Onitsha. They need to be handled like normal criminals because they are. ESN agents are fighting terrorist herders and their cows in the bushes. Members of the ESN do not harass or intimidate innocent persons, nor do they participate in civil disputes. The Soludo government and Hon. Emeka Orji, his gofer, ought to desist from employing the ESN name in their illicit endeavors.
“It is untrue that the Transitional Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government Area, Chief Emeka Orji, has anything to do with the Eastern Security Network and/or IPOB and/or claimed to have recruited anyone from them,” responded Onuachalla, speaking on behalf of the Onitsha LGA.
The statement from Emma Powerful, the spokesman for the Indigenous People of Biafra, regarding the “allegation” and/or supposed reply, titled “Re: recruitment of criminals and thugs as security operatives in the name of Eastern Security Network ESN,” is nasty and completely untrue.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Anambra State government has always maintained a security agency known as Anambra Vigilante Services, which was subsequently renamed AVG, and from which the council area’s security officers are recruited. As an organization, the AVS later became the AVG and has been operational for at least 20 years.
It is obvious that the accusation is the result of paid agitators trying to discredit the chairman’s accomplishments and, consequently, the governor Charles Soludo administration.
“Notably, the Anambra Vigilante Services is where the officers and staff of the council area security unit are recruited from. The recruitment process is transparent, and candidates must provide a character reference, as must the president generals of the communities from which they hail.
“We want to think that Emma Powerful was duped by slanderous rumors, land grabs, political operatives with self-interest, and political manipulators in order to disparage the excellent work of our Chairman on numerous fronts.
“We are well aware that the T.C. Chairman’s land recovery, urban regeneration, and restoration policies of Onitsha South LGA in accordance with the policy trust of Soludo-led state government have not been warmly received by land grabbers, desperate politicians, and vested interests disguising themselves as “stakeholders.”
“Once more, the current accusation made by an IPOB spokesperson defies reason and common sense. It is an outright attempt to overstep the council’s constitutional authority and ensnare her in delicate national security issues. Is it necessary to inquire as to whether IPOB/ESN Mazi Emma Powerful is speaking on this occasion on behalf of National Inland Waterways, the Nigerian Army, and other special interests?
“In the name of the Biafran struggle, we wish to implore Mr. Emma Powerful to resist being manipulated by self-serving politicians, land grabbers, and peddlers of falsehoods.”
