Wike’s Renewed Resolve On Insecurity

Recently, Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, demonstrated a renewed resolve of his administration to combat the current scourge of cultism in the State.
Governor Wike had, during a meeting with traditional rulers, penultimate Monday at Government House, vowed to deal ruthlessly with cultists and other criminals currently constituting a security threat to the state, with a firm assurance that his administration would take the fight to the cultists.
Said he, “We will not allow these cultists who want to paint the state black continue to cause mayhem. We will take the fight to them. Enough is enough. These people cannot continue to kill our people”.
Again, in keeping with the state government’s avowed determination to check the menace, Governor Wike, while playing host to the authorities of the Rivers State University last Wednesday, mandated the university to fish out all cultists within the institution and to alternatively forward their names to his office for prompt action.
It is quite disturbing that cult killings and needless bloodletting have resurfaced in some parts of the state. More worrisome is the fact that those behind these criminal acts carry on with impunity, as if they themselves are beyond destruction and even above the law.
No wonder then, that they swoop on their victims with reckless abandon, leaving on their trail blood, fear, apprehension, trepidation, tears and sorrow across the state.
From Rumuolumeni, Rumuodogu, Choba, Diobu, Isiokpo, Omerelu to K-Dere, Bori, Asarama and Egbeda, among other communities, the story appears to be the same. The orgy of violence coupled with its concomitant consequences of deaths and mayhem, has become a common phenomenon.
It has become so bad that no day passes without reports and ugly tales of cult-related killings making the rounds in our communities, with security agencies appearing to do little or nothing.
It is against this backdrop that The Tide applauds the Governor’s bold initiative in this regard, and sees it as a soothing balm that has the potency and capacity of providing a permanent solution to cult activities in the state.
As before, the police should work in synergy with the State government and other security agencies in the state, including the military to prosecute this present war of ridding the state of faceless cultists and other criminals.
Good a thing, the general elections have come and gone. This is not the time to play politics. And no one in the state should politicise security. There is also no doubt that despite all the efforts to check the excesses of criminals in the state, the superior fire power of the hoodlums has seemingly overwhelmed the police. Taking the fight frontally to the criminals now is not a bad idea.
Moreover, Governor Wike’s current disposition to peace and his olive branch to opposition elements in the state and other Rivers people to join hands with him to collectively develop the state is a welcome development and it is an ample opportunity for all and sundry, including the cultists and criminals, to lay down their arms, give peace a chance and join hands with the governor to take the state to the next level. What, indeed, will it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul at the end of the day?
More importantly, there is no doubt that the police has failed to discharge its constitutional responsibility of safeguarding lives and property in the state as expected of it. There are several instances where it has been accused of turning a blind eye when security breaches perpetrated by hoodlums are drawn to its attention. It must, therefore, key into the current Governor’s bold initiative by upping its game.
This is also the time for traditional rulers and community leaders to assist in fishing out miscreants who live in their midst. The era of providing cover to criminals under whatever guise is over.
Besides, there is also the urgent need for the state government and the Commissioner of Police to open new channels of communication to assist in checking the current trend of insecurity and also put measures in place to protect those who provide information to security agencies in the State.
Also, those opposed to the establishment of Neighbourhood Watch security outfit, as proposed by Governor Wike, must have a re-think now. Community policing, with the right security personnel in place, has become inevitable. It is the right way to go. Everything has to be thrown to the ring to bring cultists and other criminals currently terrorising the state to their knees. This is the only way that the citizenry would sleep with their eyes closed.