Our people responsible for attacks on policemen, facilities, not herdsmen, says Umahi

By our reporter| Ebonyi state governor, David Umahi, on Tuesday indicted South East elites and leaders over their failure to condemn the attack on policemen and government facilities in the region.

Umahi who spoke in Abakiliki after a security council meeting, urged residents to condemn the incessant attacks on police facilities and other security threats.

“The attacks are not perpetrated by herders but by criminals and bandits in the zone,” Umahi said.

“We are killing policemen, we are burning police stations which means that south-east leaders should know that our problem is not just herdsmen. We want to put it on record that no herdsman is in Ebonyi state now.

“How would we feel if the federal government withdraws policemen from the zone as a result of this development?

“The people claiming to protect us are not doing so and we should avoid creating another monster in the zone.”

The governor also ordered the arrest of people whose “inciting utterances escalated the conflict and killings” in Effium and Mgbo communities of the state.

“Individuals who make inciting statements on the social media should desist because such increases tension in the land.”

The governor also asked herders to stay away from the state until “tension abates”.

Umahi who explained that his administration did not ask herders to leave the state — but having done so on their own accord, however, said the herders should not yet return to the state.

He said, “We didn’t ask them to leave. They left on their own, which means they were privy to the attacks on Ebonyi state.

“I have been begging the national leadership that with what is going on, no state governor is in control of bandits and because of the killings of the defenceless Ebonyi people, for the safety of them, they should not return now.

“There is high tension. We have sent text messages to Myetti Allah that Ebonyi state is under tension and we would not want them to still stay until such a time that the state is safe.”

The governor also said he has ordered vigilantes and the leadership of the LGAs to enforce the ban on open grazing in the state.

“The natives should not blame security agencies who cannot be everywhere as we will fully fund vigilante operations in the state,” Umahi said.