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By Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Comrade Osita Obi, coordinator Recover Nigeria Project and coordinator Anambra Keke Drivers Forum, has insisted that the Anambra State Government must expose and bring to book anti-tout officers who mercilessly brutalised one Wilfred Ikechukwu Ezike popularly called Mgbiligba Anambra in a viral video that elicited widespread public outcry in the recent past.
Obi, who spoke exclusively with this journalist, expressed worry that after a long while, government was yet to fulfill its promise that it would expose as well as punish anti-tout officers who barbarically used pestle to damage Mgbiligba’s legs as they brutalised him in the viral video without recourse to his fundamental rights as a human being.
Obi maintained that such callousness and treachery should not be swept under the carpet and that it was not enough to merely issue a statement without corresponding actions.
He said he was not criticising or running the government down but the practice in the video was not healthy and does not portray a just and a democratic society.
He said he has made it categorically clear that the Anti-Touting Squad was a noble concept by the government but they must operate within the ambit of the law, adding that the people that perpetrated the dastardly act in the viral video must be exposed and brought to book.
Again, Osita Obi was of the opinion that if government has anything against Mgbiligba, it must bring it to the fore so that people will know and not making efforts to sweep such inhumane treatment under the carpet, which according to him, can not guarantee a healthy society and good governance.
Obi maintained that government should live up to its statement which it made through the Homeland Affairs Commissioner and Information Commissioner where it assured Ndi-Anambra that the predators of Mgbiligba would be fished out and made to face the full wrath of the law.
He said he had made several attempts to get in touch with the Homeland Affairs Commissioner through text messages and phone calls but all to no avail as the Commissioner won’t take or return his calls and won’t also reply his text messages.
As a result, he decided to resort to the press so as to have the matter completely trashed out, emphasizing that government must fulfill its promise of exposing Anti-tout officers involved in the obnoxious act and bring them to justice.
He said if Mgbiligba committed any crime to deserve such animalistic and insane treatment from the Anti-tout officers, government should prove it and not to shield erring SASA officers from the wrath of the law, stressing that the culprits must be exposed and brought to justice.
When this journalist contacted the Commissioner for Homeland Security Mr. Chikodiri Anara, to find out what efforts government has made to fulfill its promise of exposing and punishing Anti-tout officers who brutalised Mgbiligba with pestle in a viral video, the Commissioner said government has worked on the matter and all the needful completely handled.
