By Chuks Eke
Palpable fears gripped the people of Awada community in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, over the whereabouts of about 19 pump action guns, said to have been procured by the incumbent president of Awada landlords association, Chief Patrick Oyeduba for the security team of the community during his previous regime.
The guns were discovered to have been missing during the handing over of the community’s security equipment to a security outfit newly engaged by the community.
There was a mild drama at the community town hall during the handing over ceremony on Sunday when the community leaders, led by its President-General, Chief Patrick Oyeduba and the exco members discovered that out of 27 pump action guns donated to the outgoing security team, only eight were presented while the remaining 19 could not be accounted for.
The handing over of the security items including the pump action guns, vehicles, motorcycles and other security gadgets was supervised by the police patrol team from the Police Area Commander for Ogidi led by the leader of the patrol team, Inspector Hyginus Giwonke.
Members of the community had in April, elected new executive members of the landlord association of the area, where Chief Patrick Oyeduba, emerged as the new President-General of the Awada Landlord Association.
Oyeduba, who spoke to journalists at the end of the handover exercise, said the change of leadership necessitated a total overhaul in the security architecture and change of security personnel in the area with a view to fortifying security in the community.
He said, “Today, the community is changing it’s security architecture. A new security outfit under the Nigeria Police Community Policing is taking over today. The development became necessary because we want to fortify the security in the area by bringing personnel who will be loyal to the new leadership of the community.
“In the past, we have had lots of security concerns despite the fact that we had a security team in place. The community continued to have many reported cases of stealing, kidnapping, burglary, armed robberies and attacks carried out by hoodlums around the community, this shows that the security on the ground was not active and it became necessary for us as the new leadership to make the required change.
“With this development, there is a new dawn for Awada community in terms of security as the people can now sleep with their two eyes closed. Today, as you can see, the outgoing security team have handed over security items including pump action guns, vehicles, motorcycles and other security gadgets to the security team under the Nigerian Police Community Policing.
“But during the handing over, we discovered that about 19 pump action guns could not be accounted for. The community donated 27 pump action guns to the security team, to help them in their job, but today, they could only surrender eight, we don’t know what has happened to the remaining ones.
“This is a worrisome development, we are still investigating and interrogating the process to ascertained what really happened to the missing guns and if nothing is done, we will make it official.”
Earlier, while advising the new security team, Inspector Hyginus Giwonke, from the Ogidi Area Command, who supervised the handover, told the personnel to ensure they are security conscious at all times.
Giwonke said, “As you go about securing the community, ensure to always be security conscious and vigilant at all times. Do not shoot at every provocation, you are to ensure security of lives and property and not to inflict pains on the people. Ensure you are fully kitted and do not move around alone.”
The commander of the new security team, Jude Ukachi .assured the community of adequate security of lives and property.
“We will ensure that the people of Awada are well protected and they sleep with their two eyes closed. We are also using this opportunity to fire a warning signal to the hoodlums disturbing the community peace because there would not be hiding place for any criminal elements and criminalities in Awada anymore. Night life must return to Awada as an urban community me,” he added.
