Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi, on Wednesday, declared there was no iota of agitation in the criminalities being perpetrated by bandits across the land, who were currently masquerading as members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra’s Eastern Security Network.
The visibly angry Governor was reacting to the spates of killings of security agents, civilians and destructions of national assets across the South-East geo-political zone, where he superintends as Chairman of Governors’ Forum.
Umahi stated this during an expanded security meeting with service chiefs and stakeholders, which held at his office at the Centenary City, Abakaliki, on Wednesday.
Worried by the ugly trend, the Governor imposed a dusk to dawn curfew at strategic entry and exit points in the state between 8pm and 6am and equally directed that no wake should last beyond 6pm.
According to Umahi, violators of these new orders risked a N1 million fine, disclosing that both native doctors and traditional medicine dealers must within seven days register with the ministries of Internal Security/Border Peace, and Health in the state. He added that an Executive Order would soon be in force to back the current regulations.
He pointed out that those who failed to comply with the new directives would be arrested and prosecuted.
Umahi said, “We have agreed that all native doctors and traditional medicine dealers must within seven days from today register with the Commissioner for Border Peace, the Commissioner for Health, and the Commissioner for Police. There will be an executive order to that effect and anyone that is caught doing otherwise will be arrested and prosecuted.
“We are aware that there were some killings over the weekend. A policeman, two army officers and one civilian were killed by bandits. They do this killing and put it on social media that they are members of IPOB or ESN.
“For me, criminality is criminality and I have directed the security agencies to crack down on all criminal activities in the state. And for those who did the killings, the security agencies must bring them to book within 72 hours.
“We agreed that there is rampant fake news in Ebonyi State. Like today, somebody posted that herdsmen are in Ebonyi and that they are killing and schools started closing and people started running helter-skelter. Is that what we are going to continue to tolerate? So, I have directed whether you are in opposition or in agreement, whatever thing you are, if you post fake news, you should be tracked. So, my advice to people is that if you get any news that you are not sure about and can’t defend, do not circulate it. If you get any news posted to you, and you can’t defend it, do not post, because we are going to go after the person circulating it. We have already gotten some and we will prosecute them.
“We have directed that all wake keeps in the state must end by 6pm and the local government chairmen, the security agencies and Ebube-Agu must enforce it. In fact, all social activities must end by 6pm, and if you are caught doing otherwise, you will be made to pay a minimum of N1 million. A lot of criminal activities happen when we allow wake keeps go into the night.
