Restructuring is the panacea for peace in South East

The South East geopolitical zone hitherto characterised by peace, progress and tranquility has suddenly turned into killing fields where human beings are gunned down without restraints by unknown gunmen. Numerous prominent persons have been murdered by unknown persons including the late Prof Dora Akunyili’s husband; Dr. Chike Akunyili at Enugu Expressway on his way from a posthumous award ceremony to his late wife for her excellent services as director general of NAFDAC. Many others have also lost their lives. Sacred lives and innocent bloods are over and over again spilled on the ground. Many public assets like government buildings had been destroyed and set ablaze.

The critical question remains how a lot of guns and firearms get into the hands of these unknown gunmen. This is a question for those in authority. The authorities manning the nation’s borders owe explanations on how these pistols, magazines and AK-47 entered the society. The police whose duty is to watch over the environments with powers to conduct searches on suspected persons also owe the nation an explanation.

The collapse of security in the South East is traceable to when President Muhammadu Buhari’s government excluded the region from his service chiefs. This has contributed to the insecurity as no service chief is representing the Igbos in important security meetings. As it stands, the governors who are supposedly chief security officers in their respective states are helpless as they don’t even know the plans of the service chiefs who only take directives from the President of the country.

That is to say, it is high time the country is restructured to remedy all the imbalances and inequalities in the system for lasting peace and progress, particularly ensuring that all ethnic groups are represented in the security architecture of the country. As it stands, Igbos are being policed like during the era of colonial masters without having any say in the security meetings among the service chiefs which is very important. By excluding the South East in the nation’s service chiefs, it doesn’t only amount to further marginalisation but a dangerous blunder that must be corrected. Federal Government should take note.
• Robert Iwu wrote from Gosa, Abuja.