STILL ON EBUBEAGU AND THE BOKOHARAMIZATION OF THE SOUTHEAST.
Recall that last week Thursday, I moved a motion on behalf of the Ebonyi state NASS PDP Caucus titled “urgent need to stop the deteriorating security situation in Ebonyi state.”
Arising from that motion, some members of the NASS press corp visited my office for further information on the operations of this armed militia called Ebubeagu, in Ebonyi state.
The first point to be stated about Ebubeagu, and the consequent arming of untrained young men with restricted arms such as pump-action and AK47 rifles is that it leads to needless proliferation of arms by an irresponsible state government, in an otherwise non-conflict environment. The issue our Governor has failed to consider is the fate of our dear state when he leaves office next year if street urchins and faceless thugs are left armed in the streets with these weapons. Apart from laying the foundation for future armed robbers in Ebonyi state, historians are also well aware that this was the kind of scenario that birthed Boko Haram in Borno state.
I also pointed out that the Ebonyi state Law No 005 of 2021 called Ebonyi state Ebubeagu Security Agency Law is an illegal law that seeks to create a monster called Ebubeagu, in gross violation of Section 214(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which only recognizes the Nigeria Police.
The argument by Governor Umahi that the law has come to stay, being a creation of the Ebonyi state House of Assembly, is banal and hogwash! Umahi’s handlers should inform him that a law or statute emanating from a state House of Assembly is incurably bad, and amounts to a nullity when that House overreaches itself by legislating on an item in the Exclusive Legislative List of our 1999 Constitution. It is trite and elementary that legislation on Security issues involving policing in Nigeria is exclusively the preserve of the National Assembly and not a busy-body State House of Assembly.
Finally, let me advise our young men who are wasting their time and energy offering themselves to serve as Ebubeagu gunmen. Today, Governor Dave Umahi is Governor and enjoys immunity from prosecution. He is encouraging you to commit all sorts of atrocities and assuring you that nothing will happen to you. How wrong!!
In 2023, Governor Dave Umahi will no longer be Governor, and you will be entirely on your own!
Some of you have been captured in photographs and videos carrying and displaying all sorts of prohibited weapons. When Umahi leaves office in 2023, and a new sheriff takes over, you will find out those pictures alone are enough to put you away in prison for a long time.
And for those of you who are assaulting and killing innocent Ebonyians, the day of reckoning is loading, and, God willing, you will have your day in court.
Rsdnewsportal.