Abia: Kenneth Nwosu And The Height Of Insecurity

It was a pity to read in the newspapers about the ugly incident that befell one Kenneth Nwosu who was said is the Abia State Commissioner for Agriculture. It's a pity because insecurity in one place, they say, is the same in all places.

Like we say in Rivers State, if you forcefully take away a fish from one Okrika person you have taken from all. News reports have it that Nwosu is now fighting for his life after he was shot by unknown gunmen on July 9 this year.

The irony of the story is that Nwosu was purportedly shot along Umuajata/Amakama Road at the fringes of Umuahia, the state capital. The source said that the worthless incident happened when the commissioner was on his way to his country home at Olokoro, Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State.

But this happened in Abia State where Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji had been all-the-way bragging that criminals and kidnappers have been sent away from the state. What has brought embarrassment to the government in Abia State is that the inadequate seemingly assassination attempt on the commissioner happened in not any other place but the Abia State capital.

Forget that it was said that the commissioner was shot at the periphery of Umuahia. Just by 8.pm when the commissioner was shot, according to the confirmation by the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Geoffrey Ogbonna, has shown that Abia State is not safe.

Then you imagine what would happen when it is 11pm to 12am. The hoodlums would even kill somebody and dig the ground and bury the person, without any interference. This is the level of danger that our state has reached.

Abia State is a place where people are shooting from all angles, as there are those in office allegedly shooting at the treasures of the state into their own pocket thereby sending the state to a perpetual dungeon where it may not be rehabilitated. We have been telling the world that the level of insecurity in the state has gotten to its crescendo and the governor would always want the state's security vote to be increased without showing the world a commensuration to that effect.

Recently, Abia State was among the 36 state that their governors tabled a fresh demand for a raise in the notorious 'security votes'. When you confront the Abia State Government to find out why kidnappers and armed robbers and other petty robbers are on the prowl in the state yet it has a quest for an increment of the security vote, you will hear it say that governors do not have control over the army and the police.

On November 23 2010 one Cosmos Erhabor wrote an article in iReports. Erhabor signed that he was residing at Mississippi Street, Maitama, Abuja. Erhabor had said: 'Governor Theodore Orji of the 'poor' Abia State once asked his State House of Assembly to increase his Security Vote from N400million (monthly) to N700million and he got it; instead of securing the State, the commercial kidnapping increased under the very nose of the (present) IGP Hafiz Ringim who was based in Umuahia as the AIG in charge of the South-East zone.'

Today, the money might be in trillions. Yet, Governor T.A Orji continues to blame his predecessors for the woes that our state of Abia has become under his administration. What this means is that he has shown to the world that he is incapable of being a governor and that the seat he is occupying does not befit him.

His crass statements always present him as a feeble governor he is. He always make the world to understand that he is not worthy of the governor's seat, the same way the senate will not be encouraging for him should he rig himself into the place. This is said this way because it is obvious that no Abia person will vote for Gov. T.A Orji because he has betrayed the people and has sold the remnants of trust that the people had for him, where he was chasing frivolities in the blues.

The unfortunate incident that occurred to Kenneth Nwosu is a confirmation that Abia State is a beehive of criminals and kidnappers, no matter the hype the state government is giving to security in the media. Imagine the fate of the 'common' man in Abia State if a personality like Nwosu who had all the garget of security support could be attacked in the state in that brazen way.

The incident has shown how 'prepared' Governor T.A Orji is with his swagger that the state was in its entirety primed for armed robbers and kidnappers. One thing has remained sacrosanct in the state: the government's clamour that it has fought criminals, especially kidnappers, out of the state, is the height of joke of the 21st Century. The government in Abia State is so boastful that it will tell those that care to listen to its feint that developments are being witnessed in the state because it has sent criminals and their activities packing out of the state. The truth is that Abia State has been experiencing insecurity both in security and infrastructure.

Odimegwu Onwumere, a Poet/Writer, writes from Rivers State.

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