An Igbo socio-political organization, Igbo National Council INC, has kicked against the establishment of a regional security outfit codenamed Ebube Agu by the Dave Umahi-led South East Governor’s Forum.
TrackNews Online reported that the South-East Governors on Sunday established the security outfit o curtail the rising insecurity in the region.
Umahi while announcing the decision of the governors in a communique, explained that Ebube Agu will also monitor the activities of vigilante groups in member states.
Reacting to the development, Igbo National Council INC, in a statement by its President, Chilos Godsent on Monday, said it was unacceptable for the governors of the zone to hold such a meeting without thorough consultation and inclusion of serving and retired senior military and police officers, self-determination groups and key stakeholders of Igbo extraction.
The Igbo group warned the South-East Governors not to adulterate and give a bad name to the already existing INC vigilante security outfit codenamed “Operation Ije Agu”.
INC further claimed that the purported south east vigilante security outfit announced by Governors of the zone was nothing but a clear implementation of a Fulani / Miyetti Allah security template for the south-east zone.
The group said, “you will remember that the Miyetti Allah has proposed the establishment of a Vigilante group but was resisted by many of the self-determination groups from the zone”.
The socio-political body urged the governors to widen their consultation with all the major stakeholders in the zone especially serving and retired military and police officers of southeast extraction as well as self-determination groups of the Igbo nation.
The INC’s statement read, “It’s surprising to note that Governors of the south-east zone will rise from an intellectual exercise called security meeting and thus announce the formation of a regional vigilante security outfit without any legal framework. This is a huge joke.
“We also note that the purported south east vigilante security outfit as announced by the governors has no legal framework as it is not supported by any law from the State Houses of Assembly in the zone.
“We are afraid that the south-east governors are playing the scribes of the ruling Jihadist Fulanis. The Ebube Agu as they call it may be the conduit for surveillance and intelligence gathering against the self-determination groups based in the south-east zone”.
