Escape of lawmaker's killers: Onitsha indigenes vow protest, demand overhaul of Anambra Police command
By Chris Okeke, Onitsha
Indigenes of Onitsha, country home of the kidnapped and murdered Anambra State lawmaker representing Onitsha North 1, in the State House of Assembly. late Hon. Justice Azuka, have vowed to protest the alleged escape of two out of six of the suspected killers of the lawmaker and demanded the overhaul of the state Police command.
The indigenes, under the aegis of Onitsha Ado Youth Forum (OAYF), decried the escape of the two notorious kidnappers from Police custody during one of their operations at Obosi, in Idemili North Local Government Area of the State.
Mr Ginika Odua, President of the youth wing, made the disclosure to newsmen at a press conference in Onitsha stating that the escape of the two dreaded kidnappers called for the total overhaul of the entire Anambra State Police Command, especially the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area of the State.
He urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) , Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, to immediately sanction those who are responsible and liable for the escape.
Odua stressed the need for the immediate rearrest of the fleeing kidnappers, failure of which the group threatened to stage a five million-man protest match which would shake the very foundation of the state.
“This singular action portend grave danger to the security of the State in view of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s vision to fight crime and criminality with vigour” he said.
Also speaking at the Press Conference, the secretary, Mike Idika Ononenyi, said there is need for an urgent surgical operation of RRS officers in Awkuzu Anambra State because of serious endemic corruption going on at the facility.
He challenged the Anambra State Police Command not to play ostrich in this sensitive matter but should come out and tell the people of the State what actually happened.
Ononenyi said all those officers involved should be made to face disciplinary action because they are not aiding criminals but putting the lives of security men involved in the tracking down these criminals in serious danger.
He lamented that the current efforts by the Governor to reduce crime and criminality in the state were being sabotaged by some disgruntled officers in RRS Awkuzu due their inordinate quest to make money at all cost.
The secretary said, "If the officers were not prepared for the operation why did they engage in it when they don’t have enough man power".
