Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Tuesday gave all six governors in the South-south marching orders to form a regional security outfit to save the people from the menace of killer-herdsmen.
National Vice-Chairman of the PDP (South-south), Chief Dan Orbih, who led members of his team to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, lamented that the COVID-19 pandemic was a child’s play in relation to the insecurity ravaging Nigeria.
He told the governor: “A situation where people can no longer go to their farms is a signal for the impending food crisis. We call on the Governors and leaders of the South-South to come together and protect our people.”
Orbih added: “I am here with the Zonal working committee members of the People’s Democratic Party as part of our official tour of the Zone to commend and applaud the good work the PDP Governors are doing and to ask them to do more.
“We are embarking on this tour at a very difficult and challenging time in our nation’s history. The issues confronting us today are so serious that the COVID-19 pandemic that has challenged the world is dwarfed by domestic problems facing us.
“The growing insecurity occasioned by the uncontrolled activities of ruthless bandits and herdsmen is worrisome. We have lost innocent men and women in the past six years more than nations at war. The Yorubas have taken steps to check the menace of these groups with the formation of Amoeteku, the Ibos have theirs – Ebubeagu security network.
“What are we doing in the south South? We must fashion out ways in collaboration with various security agencies to check the unprovoked assault on our people. Our people are distressed. The federal roads are in bad shape and unsafe. Last week Senator Cliff Odia was attacked twice the same day by different groups on his way from Edo to Abuja.
We enjoin you to join forces with those calling for state and community policing to complement the present structure. the South-south Regional Security initiative seems like a way to support and fight the decaying state of insecurity across the ccountry. The South-south Governors must not relent in the demand for state Police”.
The PDP also berated the federal government’s handling of corruption cases with lax, saying the
“Lack of accountability in the NDDC has affected development in the zone. It has eroded trust and promotes unemployment and criminality in the youths. A hungry man is an angry man. The federal government must stop playing politics with NDDC. The rising poverty index and lack of employment is now a major problem in our zone.”
