In a bid to stem the ever resurgent inter and Intra-community and boundary crises rocking some parts of Ebonyi State, the Nigeria Police has on Tuesday launched a security operation, tagged: “Operation PUFF ADDER,” in the State.
Inaugurating the operation at the command headquarters, Abakaliki, the Assistant Inspector General General in charge of zone 6, Musa Kimo, called on Ebonyi stakeholders to join hands with the Police to ensure the success of the exercise.
He noted that stakeholders’ support was necessary because the operation, by its design, depends on the people in various communities to achieve its desired objective, adding that the cooperation included giving adequate information to the Police, which would facilitate the tracking down and prosecution of perpetrators of evil acts in the state.
Kimo condemned the recent mutual killings between some parts Ikwo and Abakaliki local government areas of the state by suspected warlords and warned the two warring communities of Alike-Ikwo and and Enyigba in Ikwo and Abakaliki local government areas respectively to sheathe their swords or face the wrath of the tactical team.
He explained that Operation Puff Adder was a resonance of intelligence-driven policing and community intelligence strategy for the purpose of crime control, adding that the operation will help police to identify and arrest criminals in the State.
The Police Commissioner in the State, Awosola Awotunde, in his speech, urged Ebonyi communities to stop pilling arms but rather learn to employ dialogue in settling their issues instead of killing each other.
Apostle Emmanuel Mbam, a stakeholder from Alike-Ikwo, complained that the major problem militating against the achievement of peace in the area was the nonchalant attitude of the stakeholders.
Mbam called on the stakeholders to sit up and synergise to end the menace, noting that it was not the miscreants that buy guns for the killings but the stakeholders.
He emphasised that the police and government were been deceived by some of the stakeholders and called for a private meeting where the real secrets behind the killings would be exposed.
Mbam called on their Ezza brothers as the eldest in Umuekumenyi ancestry to call Ikwo and Izzi people to order by placing a curse on those instigating the crisis.
According to him, Ebonyi State was known for its rich cultural values and as such should employ it traditionally to end the crisis.
Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, DSP Loveth Odah, siezed the occasion to parade suspected kidnappers, illegal arms manufacturers as well as ammunitions recovered from criminals across the State.
Odah re-emphasized the resolve of the command to make the State totally not conducive for hoodlums.