A two term member of the House of Representatives representing Abor Mbaise/ Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State, Hon. Bede Eke has raised an alarm to the federal authorities saying that the nation’s security agencies are killing his constituents.
The ongoing killings, he said, came on the heels of the recent killing of the former political adviser to former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Ahmed Gulak in Owerri, Imo State.
The lawmaker who addressed a press conference on Thursday in Abuja gave the names of some victims of the recent killings as Noel Chigbu Nzeribe, Tochi Ekwe and many other missing kinsmen still missing
He said that many of the people of the area have been driven to the bushes while others fled to where they have spent days without their families.
While totally condemning Gulak’s brutal murder in his constituency, Eke appealed to the security agencies to exercise restraints and stop killing innocent people.
According to him, calls from his constituents have reached a crescendo for his intervention in their current ordeal in the hands of these security operatives.
Eke asked the police and the army to conduct discreet investigation, identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice rather than resort to the ongoing mass intimidation and killings of his constituents.
“We lost a young man. Until his death owns and operates a Shawarma shop just to make ends meet. He was hot by the army because he could not obey the rules at the checkpoint.
“The family has written a petition to the army. We as the people of Ngor Okpala/Mbaise are not happy about it and as the representative of the people, I want to make it known to the world that we are waiting for the outcome of the petition.
“As the representative of the people, I am giving the army 14 to respond to the killing of that young man who left a pregnant wife and his two children. One is 3 and the other is 2 years old.” he said
On what may have been the cause of the current crisis, he informed that the people of the area gave their land to the government for the construction of an airport and subsequently a Naval base.
He however expressed regrets saying that upon this good gesture extended to the federal authorities, they have refused to enter into a memorandum of understanding MOU with the people of the constituency.
On the threat by President Muhammad Buhari to deal with what he called formentors of trouble in the country, he said that the President’s statement in which he tagged everyone in the area as criminal is unacceptable to him and other leaders of the zone.
He pointed out out that the number one citizen of Nigeria had ignored similar security situation and even worse than what is happening in the area in the North-East and other parts of the country where killing of citizens by security still subsists till today.
