Leaders and elders in Akwa Ibom state under the umbrella body of “Akwa Ibom Leaders Vanguard ” have on Monday rose against the establishment of anti terrorism unit by the police command in the state.
They also expressed doubts over the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct, free, fair and credible polls in Nigeria.
The spokesman of the group, Senator Anietie Okon flanked by Senators Emmanuel Ibokessien , Effiong Bob, Prof. Emmanuel Onwioduokit and others in a press conference in Uyo disclosed that they had already petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris explaining why the anti terrorism unit was not needed in AkwaIbom, a state adjudged to be largely peaceful.
He maintained that terrorism in the country have been constrained to the North East and more recently to Katsina and Zamfara states and accused the police authorities of acting a script to assist the APC wield its much vaunted Federal might on the state.
The elders said call for an anti terrorism unit in the state was like building a bridge in a desert and leaving a river where the bridge was needed unattended to, and urged the federal government to channel the tax payers money to areas where they would be useful.
He wondered why the Federal government developed deaf ears on the yearnings of the governors of Zamfara and Kastina states to declare state of emergency in those terrorism laden states but decided to waste it’s energy and resources in establishing an anti-terrorism unit in a state(Akwa Ibom) that did not need it.
Okon who further wondered why such call should come forty days before the general elections alleged that the move was politically motivated.
His words, “ Forty days from now they are foreseeing security threat in Akwa Ibom, you don’t need anybody to tell you that it is political.
“Recent security challenges in Zamfara and Kaduna states had necessitated the call for help by the Governors of those states to our security forces to help forestall and curb the wild fire of insurgency rapidly spreading across these states.
“The most embarrassing affront being the invasion of the President home state by these marauding terrorists.
The above named states are the main theatres of war of insurgency. It is therefore shocking and most appalling that our security resources are being wrongly allocated through the ironic proposal to set up an anti-terrorism Unit in Akwa Ibom state, several thousand miles away from the insurgency and terrorism prone locations mentioned above.”
He also said that the elders would resist such move by the police the way they resisted oil onshore offshore dichotomy and the establishment of a Nuclear Power Plant unit in the state some years back.
“for the avoidance of doubt, we will resist these attempts to balkanize and destroy our state under the guise of fighting non-existent terrorism” he said.
Also, the group said the appointment of Hajia, Amina Zakari, as the National Collation Officer in the forthcoming elections by INEC had questioned the credibility of the forthcoming polls.
According to them, “Nigerians are worried that the electoral umpire lacked the capacity to withstand pressures from vested interests.
“INEC said that they want to conduct a free, fair and credible election. We have been waiting patiently to see the actions of the federal might as far as this election is concerned.
“We see that there is no way that INEC can conduct election to be free, fair and credible. We are anticipating that the election cannot be free, fair and credible.
“The recent appointment of Hajia Amina Zakari as the National Collation Officer has worsened our expectations of a credible polls in the country.”
