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Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra state has once again issued a warning notice to criminal elements lurking in the state.
The Governor said they should not dare him because he is fully charged to deal with them decisively and make them face the consequences of unleashing terror and mayhem on unsuspecting citizens.
Obiano gave the warning at the Okpoko Divisional Police Station Ogbaru local government area near Onitsha Anambra state during the official inauguration of the Puff Adder Special Security Operations in the state.
The Governor who was represented on the occasion by the Secretary to the State Government Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu stated that he had warned criminal elements at a security council meeting that his security strategies since inception of office remained the same, stressing that Anambra could no longer harbour criminals because retribution is at hand.
He therefore assured the citizenry that there is an improved level of vigilance in the state to ensure that criminals don’t find their way into Anambra state and that those already in the state will have no hiding place because government will smoke them out.
Earlier in his address, Anambra state commissioner of police, Mustapha Dandaura, said the police had re-doubled their efforts to wage unending war on criminals in the state. He said the efforts of the police in crime-fighting and control had been made manifest in the recent apprehension of the killers of Ex-Anambra lawmaker, Hon. Frank-Anthony Igboka.
The police commissioner also noted that the choice of Onitsha for the official launch of Operation Puff Adder was because Onitsha was strategic due to the quantum of economic activities and its tendency for crime and criminality.
Dandaura noted that Puff Adder would be replicated in all the 21 local government areas of the state to beef up security in the hinterlands. He pointed out that the police in Anambra deployed a number of strategies to curb crime in the state, noting that about nine police outfits are covering Onitsha axis.
The police boss said they had conducted patrols and raided criminals off Anambra streets and suburbs, adding that significant progress had been made in the reduction of crime rate in Anambra state.
He therefore appealed to community-dwellers and the general public to assist the police with useful information that could lead to the arrest of individuals who have vowed to be enemies of the society.
On his part, the chairman Police Community Relations Committee Anambra State Chief Ikechukwu Ezenwankwo thanked the state government for the arrest of the killers of the President-General of Nimo community Hon Frank-Anthony Igboka but equally expressed disappointment that criminals were returning to the state.
The PCRC state boss noted that the traditional rulers should join forces with the PCRC to expose criminal elements in their respective communities.
He however wondered whether some of the hoodlums were agents to rich and well-to-do individuals in the communities because according to him, when some criminals were arrested, some rich individuals called them on the phone to say they were interested in the cases of persons arrested with guns and other destructive weapons.
Ezenwankwo stressed the need for the police to be allowed liberty to investigate and prosecute cases devoid of unnecessary interferences and interruptions from wealthy individuals in the society.
