By Ngwuoke Ngwuoke
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State says the success in bringing to an end the Monday sit – at – home order in the State is because of the support the government has received from security agencies.
He said with such support,bit would have been difficult to disabuse the mind of the people from fear and make them return to their normal businesses on Mondays.
Recall that for about two years now economic and social activities have been paralyzed in the South East following a sit at home order imposed on the zone by the Simon Ekpa faction of proscribed Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra, IPOB.
Receiving the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, Major General Hassan Dada, in his office, Mbah commended the security agencies, especially the Nigerian Army for improved security in the state.
He said the improved security would aid his administration’s promise to grow the state economy in an unprecedented manner, as the growth was going to come from the private sector investments.
“One thing that is key is that private sector investment will not happen if we do not have peace and security. That was why when we took over, we immediately identified the security challenge and the sit-at-home as the big elephant in the room. We recognized that the continual Monday sit-at-home was not only creating this perception of insecurity in our state, but it was also doing so much damage to our psychology as a people, our social wellbeing and our economy. We moved against it and made a pronouncement to put an end to Monday sit-at-home.
“So, I want to immediately put on record our profound appreciation and our immense gratitude for the support, dedication, and commitment we have continued to receive from the military, particularly the army, in our quest to have a peaceful and secure Enugu State.
“I also want to put on record that we have enjoyed tremendous support in not only getting the various security agencies to buy into this end to sit-at-home, but also in practice getting them to deploy enough security to ensure the protection of lives and property, particularly with respect to the enforcers of the illegal sit-at-home.
“We want to thank you in particular because of the sort of dedication and commitment we have witnessed in you and we must also by extension express our profound gratitude to the Chief of Army Staff for bringing you here because we can see that not only have we been able to escort this big elephant called sit-at-home out of our state, but we are also enjoying a relatively peaceful and secure environment in our state today”.
Mbah, however, enjoined the military and the security agencies not to rest on their oars, adding that having lost the battle the criminals that hitherto terrorized the people have now resorted to social media propaganda.
“We cannot at this point rest on our oars. We cannot assume that these opportunistic foes will just sit back and relax. We enjoin you and your team to remain vigilant because it is not yet time to Uhuru. We are still at our highest alert level until we are completely sure that these criminals are nowhere close to our state.
“On our part, we want to assure you that as a government, we are going to continue to collaborate with you and other security agencies to ensure that we sustain this relative peace and security”, he concluded.
In his speech earlier, General Dada commended Governor Mbah for leading the charge against insecurity and illegal sit-at-home, saying the Army and the security agencies, had restored security in Enugu State through the governor’s support.
The GOC, who was accompanied by the Army high command in the South East on the familiarisation visit said: “Let me assure you that with the support of my bosses, the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Defence Staff, things can only but get better”.
