Abia and Imo states’ governors Okezie Ikpeazu and Rochas Okorocha yesterday said some Fulani herdsmen were killed by kidnappers operating on the border between the two states.
The governor addressed reporters at the end of their joint security meeting at the Government House in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
They expressed their readiness to combat kidnapping at their borders.
The meeting, which was attended by heads of security agencies from both states, including the Commander of 14 Brigade at Ohafia, Brig.-Gen. Lawrence Fejokwu; the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) for Zone 9, Yerima Fyarah and the Chairman of Southeast Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Eberechi Dick,
deliberated on the security situation in both states.
The Department of State Services (DSS) had accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of killing the herdsmen, a claim the organisation vehemently denied and confirmed by the two governors.
Ikpeazu said the spate of kidnappings across the border of the sister-states was worrisome.
The governor noted that it was while committing the criminal activity that the herdsmen were killed.
He said: “We condemn the spate of kidnappings here, especially in relation to the five Fulani herdsmen abducted and murdered by criminals.”
Ikpeazu said the joint security meeting mapped out effective strategy to curb criminality in the two states, adding that criminals would no longer be allowed to attack in Imo and run to Abia, or vice versa.
The governor said security agencies in both states had been directed to destroy the forest at the border where the kidnappers used as their base.
Okorocha said he was in Abia with his team to see how both state governments could flush out criminals, who had been terrorising the residents.
The governor said the killing of the herdsmen had no ethnic colouration because it was not a direct attack on any ethnic group but the consequences of a criminal activity.
He noted that apart from the bodies of the five herdsmen, which were discovered in shallow graves, two other bodies of Igbo ethnic nationality were also found in some graves.
Okorocha said the border between the sister states were porous, adding that they had declared a joint security operation, which would extend to Enugu and Rivers states by involving the governors of those states.
The governor said he agreed with Ikpeazu that the homes of confirmed kidnappers would be demolished and their property recovered to put the criminals out of business.
He said: “The forest, where the kidnappers use as their operational base, must be dismantled urgently. This is how evil forest story starts; that’s how Sambisa started.”
