From a Glorious Past to a Spectacle of Horror

Vanessa Obioha uses the latest jailbreak and orgy of violence in Imo State to mirror the widespread acts of criminality in the country

The spate of violence that rocked Imo state in the past few days have opened a floodgate of opinions on the state of insecurity in Nigeria. Critics question the motive for the attacks which are happening at a time when the unity of the country is quavering.

Once a peaceful state with the lowest crime rate in the South-east region, Imo state in the past few years has succumbed to criminality and violence which are curiously rooted in politics. The theatre for these acts of violence is often the capital, Owerri, a city also known for its entertaining nightlife.

Between 2012 and 2014, Owerri and its environs recorded a high number of violence and fatalities according to a report by Fund For Peace, an independent non-profit organisation focused on developing practical tools and approaches for reducing conflict. In the data obtained from third parties, a former governor of the state Ikedi Ohakim, and his family escaped after their home was petrol bombed by unknown assailants in 2014 while the police clashed with armed robbers and killed some of the armed thieves. Cases of kidnapping, robbery and protests were copious in the area during this period.

The latest act of violence in the state capital is the jailbreak of prisoners in Owerri Correctional Facility. In the early hours of Easter Monday, April 5, gunmen stormed the facility with explosives and freed over 1,800 inmates. They also rained hell on the State Police Command, setting vehicles ablaze and destroying other government buildings. Initially, the attack was heaped on IPOB by former Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu who was sacked while inspecting the damage at the correctional facility.

IPOB who has a history of clash with the police has since denied their complicity in the incident.

While the state was still processing the assault in Owerri, the daredevils launched another strike at another police station in Ehime Mbano. Inmates in the local Divisional Police Headquarters were freed and the policemen reportedly offered little or no resistance to the gunmen.

Not done with the mayhem, an armed gang abducted a traditional ruler, HRH Eze Charles Iroegbu, alongside the cabinet chiefs of Nguru Mbaise, on their way back from a wedding ceremony.

Recent development bared the political theatrics often seen in cases of insecurity. Former governor Rochas Okorocha in a briefing in Jos, claimed that the state was peaceful during his tenure, due to the wisdom his administration applied. He advised the state governor Hope Uzodinma to seek his advice on how to handle the situation while attributing the violence to ppoverty and injustice. But Uzodinma who doesn’t hide his hate and distrust for his predecessor thinks otherwise. The governor, through the Commissioner for Information and Strategy Declan Emelumba, claimed that the attack was an orchestrated act by the former governor to repossess properties sealed by the government as well as force the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state. On the Federal Government level, President Muhammadu Buhari termed the mayhem as an act of terrorism while Vice-President Yemi 0sinbajo condemned the attacks as an assault on the way of life of the good people of the state.

Senate President Ahmed Lawan called the act a distraction to the works of FG and the perpetrators, enemies of the people.

A former Assistant Director at the Department of State Services, Dennis Amachree in an interview on Channels TV claimed that the police were alerted three times before the attack.

While the name-calling and blame game seemed to have subsided, the recent jailbreak brings to fore some of the crucial factors responsible for its prevalence in Nigeria’s correctional facilities. During the EndSARS protest last year, there were jailbreaks in Edo and Ondo, including a botched attempt in Lagos. Factors responsible for these unlawful releases have been plumbed by many, with the lack of state policing taking centre stage. The need for states to have authority over their police commands have been drummed by various politicians. The limited power given to state police commissioners are considered a major factor in the increased rate of crime and violence, and with some of the divisional police stations understaffed or under-equipped with sophisticated arms, the drum of urgency to decentralise the Nigerian Police Force is beating louder each passing day. Also, the poor condition of some of the correctional facility infrastructure is a critical factor in the rise of prison breaks. Most correctional facilities are debilitating and need to be renovated. Infrastructure gaps, human elements and aggression by inmates were some of the reasons for the jailbreak listed by Francis Enobore, the spokesman for the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in 2018.

However, the insecurity in Imo state, to a large extent ,mirrors the growing spate of violence and killings in the country. Since the pandemic last year, crime has donned a new hue, one that is crimson, deadly and no respecter of the government. The EndSARS protest was a preview to how the country can easily degenerate into anarchy if those in power do not exert control over insecurity. Since the violence and banditry spree in the country, the current administration has not been spared by citizens who criticise its inability to protect the lives of ordinary Nigerians. Such outcry which ordinarily should have sped up security action to curtail prevalence have met more verbal condemnation than physical actions.

Desperate times call for desperate actions. As such, the South-east governors recently borrowed a leaf from the South-west governors who set up a joint security outfit Amotekun, in 2020 to curtail criminality in the region. For the governors who converged at a security summit held in Owerri last Sunday, a united front is better than individual effort. Code named Ebube Agu (Glorious Lion), the security outfit would be headquartered in Enugu where it will coordinate the vigilante groups in the zone and a committee will be set up to monitor its implementation.

Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi presented the communique alongside other governors who condemned terrorism and banditry in every state and expressed support for the Federal Government in its fight against elements of terrorism and violence.

While resolving to ban open grazing in the state, the governors called for peaceful coexistence between farmers and herders to enable them succeed in the fight against criminality.

The move by South-east governors has been described by many as a step in the right direction, however, the issue of insecurity in Nigeria still a long way from being resolved, and with Imo, where past governors have not really performed to expectation, the journey to decorum is long, weary and fiery.

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In January, parts of Imo State lived in terror as the army and local communities engaged in a battle over the community support for the pro-independence movement by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Eastern Security Network. The violence left at least one dead and scores of damage. Also, reports showed that between February and March, divisional police headquarters in Obowo, Abo Mbaise, Ihitte/ Uboma and Isiala Mbano have been under attacks that led to the killings of three cops and injuring others. The latest act of violence in the state capital is the jailbreak of prisoners in Owerri Correctional Facility. In the early hours of Easter Monday, April 5, gunmen stormed the facility with explosives and freed over 1,800 inmates. They also rained hell on the State Police Command, setting vehicles ablaze and destroying other government buildings