By Okey Maduforo Awka.
Gov Charles Soludo has drawn the final nail on the clamour for the scrapping of Agunechemba Security Squad insisting that the outfit has come to stay .
Soludo during a media chat with reporters on the thirty fourth anniversary of the creation of Anambra state also stated that the Native Doctors under security costudy for Oke- Ite rituals are facing the court of law noting that the matter is between them and the law courts .
“Once we have arrested and they are taken to court and once we are in Court the matter is to be decided by the Court”
“We have the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary and that is the Court”
“Once it gets to the Court, the case is between the person and the Court and we do not have the powers to go and bail and it is up to them to carry out the forensic investigations about the Oke – Ite. .he said.
Continuing Soludo contended that ;
“On the issue of scrapping Agunechemba Security Squad it is like scrapping the Police because of the issue of End SARS”
“Ever since we have not scrapped the police or other security agencies”
“During en SARS they protested that police killed some people and indeed some people were killed”
“It happens in foreign countries where police killed some people and they would strangle them to death yet the police in the United States of America was not scrapped”
He admitted that there could be exceptions in the area of abuses by operatives but that it doesn’t call for the scrapping of the security architecture.
“The point is that everywhere in the world you find some abuses just like what played out between the Agunechemba and the female corps member and we condemned it in it’s entity and the operatives are being made to face the law because it is against the operational roles of the outfit and we said no! ”
“They have been under training and retraining and wherever we find excesses we ensure that the practice is followed to the letter”
“But you cannot throw away the baby with the birth water and it is not done anywhere”
“Anambra is safer far , far safer than it was before and that is through the instrumentality of the Homeland security operations”
“Even if you didn’t like Soludo you must have known that the Agunechemba Security Squad is doing well and made a sound contributions in keeping us safer ”
Soludo further announced the latest exploits of the Agunechemba Security Squad at Awa in Orumba North local government area where camps of the gunmen were neutralized.
“Go to Awa town and you would see what the Agunechemba Security Squad did recently by taking over their camps ”
“That town is enjoying peace now and that is the product of the Agunechemba Security Squad”
Soludo however expressed the sacrifices been made by security operatives noting that it is not easy for one to risk his life for the safety of the other members of the society.
“Go to the roads and see security operatives working and they stand under the rain and the sun to keep others safe and you think it is easy”
He carpeted his political opponents over the criticisms against Agunechemba operations insisting that people should not play politics with the security of lives and property.
“Politicians cannot end their speech without finding something to say about the incumbent and what they do during every election is to find something to say and because they have nothing to campaign with they cash in on one thing to say scrap Agunechemba”
“You don’t play politics with security of lives and property because if you do that how does it help you”
“Agunechemba was not there when we were contesting election and when the eight local government areas were taken over by those criminals ”
“Agunechemba was not there when they came for me at my home town to take me out ”
“They were not there when my colleague a fellow contestant was brought out his car after stopping the convoy and was killed and today nothing has been heard about his whereabout”
“Agunechemba was not there when it happened so if once in a while when something like the assault on the corps member who was beaten up and stripped naked which is against why they were trained they come up with one campaign slogan or the other ”
“What those against Agunechemba are doing is for transient personal political gain ”
He described the last by elections as a mock examination ahead of the gubernatorial election in the state.
“Election that you know that you cannot win and people have made their choice and it is APGA”
“You want to disrupt the peace that Anambra people are enjoying”
“We tested it last two weeks during the by elections and that is mock examination or mock election in the hypotheses was tested and the results are there because the people has experienced good governance and you think that you can win ”
“The particular governorship candidate of the APC before now was boasting that the by election would show that he has capacity before the gubernatorial election but he could not win his polling units, he could not win his ward and he could not win his local government”
“He was boasting that this is town when he met the Deputy Governor and we ask did he say that when his area was taken over by those boys and even the governorship candidate that was kidnaped is from his local government and almost his town”
“We know there game and they simply assemble truck load of thugs and they go to collect election materials and write the results but the people rejected them and this is something that used to happen in those days and we are in 2025 and they think that they can continue in this way” he stated.
