South East: Black spots revealed where gunmen reign, security men focus on extortion on highways

Many communities across the five South East states have security issues, and as a result, people no longer travel to their villages for ceremonies, including burials and weddings. The situation became worse shortly after the arrest and detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Department of State Service, DSS.

It started with the declaration of sit at home every Monday, during which IPOB members and the Republic of Biafra agitators force the entire people of the South East to remain in their homes. Those who disobeyed were either shot dead or maimed if they dared step out of their houses. Several police formations in the zone were set ablaze by the Biafra agitators, apparently to drive home their point that they wanted Nnamdi Kanu released without conditions.

As security operatives battled these agitators, the insurgents went underground and ended up in the thick forests in many communities from where they were wreaking havoc on the people. That was the beginning of the emergence of the unknown gunmen in the region.

In Anambra, for instance, the gunmen set up abodes in Amichi, Ukpor, Iseke, Azia, Orsumoghu, Lilu, Ubuluisiuzor and other places which have become no go areas. There are also gunmen camps across Ose Akwa River in Ihiala, Anaku in Ayamelum, Ukwulu and Nawgu in Dunukofia and many other places. These forests have also doubled as detention camps for kidnappers and those who were unfortunate to find themselves in these camps have had terrible stories to tell.

Due to the activities of the gunmen, the 35 kilometers stretch of road from Amichi through Ukpor, Orsumoghu, Mbosi to Isekke had, for the last three years, become a no – go area for civilians and even security operatives. Before the road became desolate, there used to be no fewer than six police checkpoints along the road, but the security men have all run away and relocated to safer areas where they extort motorists with reckless abandon.

In Abia State, the Umunneochi axis harbours one of the most dreaded camps . The surprising thing is that there is a military checkpoint close to the insurgents’ den, and often times, kidnappers pass through the checkpoints with their victims without molestation.

In Imo, the criminals are also believed to operate from Okigwe/Ihube forest which shares border with Umunneochi and Uturu in Abia State.

Before the launch of Operation Flush, Lokpanta axis near the Regional Cattle market also used to be a serious hot bed, but calm has since returned to the region. However, the boundary between Abia and Enugu State near Better Life Market/ Awgu/Isiagu border line still witnesses occasional incidents despite multiple security checkpoints along the corridor.

Recently, criminals suspected to be bandits were robbing travelers in the evening hours just at the Awgu/Lokpanta boundary on the Enugu Port Harcourt expressway while security agents mounted roadblocks around Lekwesi junction.

Some kidnappers are suspected to be operating from Ngwa axis but their victims are said to be kept in peoples’ houses. It is also known that kidnappers occasionally strike around Umuahia area and cross into Abia from Imo State, via Mbaise -Umuahia road.

Between Enugu and Onitsha through Awka, there were 16 checkpoints at the last count and seven of them were manned by soldiers. At these checkpoints manned by soldiers, civilians were being used to extort money from commercial drivers.

The question many people ask is, why have security operatives not been able to dislodge the insurgents in these forests and blackspots? The immediate past Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Mr. Aderemi Adeoye said the reason was because government would not want to jeopardize the safety of innocent people living in those communities.

Adeoye said: “You know this is like guerilla warfare and not a conventional war. The Federal government has exercised a lot of restraint in dealing with the problem, and security operatives have been urging the insurgents not to push their luck so far because patience has a limit. Up till now, we have not used air strikes, Why? Because we are concerned about the safety of the innocent people there. We don’t want collateral damage. But if their existence there will make life meaningless to the innocent people, then government would have been pushed to the wall to go all out and take them out, in order to secure the people who have become canon-folder in their hands.

“Security operatives are working to gradually reclaim all these areas that the insurgents have turned into their hideouts because they are natural forests, harsh topography, difficult terrains and others. The criminals take refuge in such places and launch attacks from there, but now it is very difficult for them to launch such attacks and come out alive. Attacks have been checked to a reasonable extent. I will give you an insight; they plant landmines around those camps and also use rocket propelled grenade launchers. These are war materials and we are not at war. “

An indegene of Lilu, one of the black spots in Ihiala local government area, Mr. Cletus Nwakire, who said he has not been able to travel to his community for the past three years because of the activities of the insurgents, wondered why it is difficult to drive the hoodlums from the forests.

“ Sometimes I feel that the inability of security operatives to curb our area of the insurgency is deliberate. How can people who did not have military training be more powerful than the soldiers?

“I believe that if the security operatives decide to flush out these people from the forests, they can do it within one week. As it stands, our people can’t go home and all the communities along that axis have been deserted.”

The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, has advocated the deployment of helicopters and drones for aerial surveillance of the black spots to curb the disturbing insecurity in the South East region.

President General of COSEYL, Comrade Goolldluck Ibem said that security agencies should regularly conduct aerial surveillance of the various black spots in the South East, using intelligence they gather from such mission.

Before and shortly after the inception of the current administration, Umunneochi —Isuikwuato axis used to be a hot bed for criminals especially kidnappers and bandits who operated with impunity around the area.

But after the launch of a special security operation codenamed Operation Flush, by Gov. Alex Otti, insecurity in the entire state has drastically reduced although there are pockets of occasional incidents.

It is believed in the security circle that most of the kidnapping incidents in the state were perpetrated by cross border criminals who operate from outside the state.

Sometimes, the criminals are suspected to operate from forests in the neighbouring Imo State especially around Imo River corridor where soldiers had a shootout with the hoodlums recently.