COURT FORCES EBONYI STATE GOVT TO SHUT DOWN EBUBEAGU SECURITY

REPORTER: AMECHI ODO

Ebonyi State Government has shut down the operations of Ebubeagu Security Outfit temporarily following its disbandment by a Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki.

Governor David Umahi made the pronouncement during a public address at the Executive Council Chamber Government House Abakaliki.

Issues raised during the address by Governor Umahi include threats by non state actors to disrupt the forthcoming general election in the South East and the need for the people of the zone to be vigilant and disregard the threat.

Others were the need for peaceful campaigns, the prevailing cash crunch in the country and the judgment of a Federal High Court Abakaliki, which disbanded Ebubeagu Security Outfit for being unconstitutional.

Governor Umahi said the outfit would no longer be functional until the state government obtains a stay of Execution from the court, noting that in the meantime, Ebonyi Neighbourhood Watch and Vigilante Corps would fill the void to ensure that the state was protected.

He ordered security agencies to deploy their operatives in and around all financial institutions in the state and appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide more new naira notes to banks to reduce the harrowing experiences the residents were passing through.

Chief Umahi alleged that some politicians in the state recruited impostors who wear security uniforms and called on VIPs in the state to abide by the order of the Inspector General of Police that everyone must get security details from the state.

He also used the opportunity to receive a new Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olayele Faleye, a new Director of the Department of Security Service and other Heads of Security agencies newly deployed to the state.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU