Elections: Ebubeagu Must Be Disbanded In Imo, PDP Insists

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Saturday called for the disbandment of the Imo state government-backed Ebubeagu security outfit in the state.

The PDP made this call while speaking to newsmen in Owerri, through the State Publicity Secretary, Collins Opurozor.

The main opposition party alleged that the Ebubeagu security outfit would hijack the security of the election in Imo state on the day of the 2023 election in Imo and manipulate it in favour of the ruling party.

According to PDP, “Now something very important must be mentioned. From the beginning of human society, the essence of political governance has been the security of lives and property. Government exists for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of the best life. That is how philosophers put it. But today in Imo State, the regime of Senator Uzodinma has completely resigned from its responsibility of protecting the lives and property of the Imo people. Agents and militiamen of the government have been accused of masterminding some of the killings in the State. The gruesome massacre of fourteen Otulu youths at Awo-Omamma by Uzodinma-backed Ebubeagu Militia remains a case in point.”

PDP alleged that “More than half of Imo territory is presently under the occupation of bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and other non-state actors who levy death upon Imo people and make life a misery. Farmers have abandoned their farmlands and the logical outcome has been an unprecedented rise in poverty and starvation, including crime. Three years ago, Imo was the most peaceful state in Nigeria. Our State is now a killing field!”

It was the view of the main opposition party that, “As the 2023 elections draw closer, the failed regime of Senator Uzodinma is already perfecting a wicked plot to deploy violence to manipulate electoral outcomes and extend its illegitimate hold onto power. Our Party has intercepted credible intelligence about the planned role which the Uzodinma-backed Ebubeagu Militia would play in this process of derailing democracy in the State. On Election Day, what may be witnessed is a scenario where accreditations would be allowed to take place with BVAS, and from that point, Ebubeagu Militia would take over the process to complete the actual voting and transmission. The massively-rigged February 2022 State Constituency By-election in Ngor Okpala provided the ground for the APC regime in Imo to test this crime against democracy.”

“Imo PDP, therefore, demands the immediate disbandment of Ebubeagu Militia. The Inspector General of Police must rise to the occasion. Since Ebubeagu began its operations in Imo State, insecurity, killings, abductions and arson have only risen astronomically. There is no justification for the Militia to continue to exist!

“Imo people should realize that if this bestial regime in the State is allowed to set everywhere on fire and make all the parts of Imo uninhabitable, we all would become refugees in foreign lands. Therefore, everyone in the State must now come out, join hands and participate in the electoral process, with the clear and patriotic objective of permanently sending this unelected regime packing. This is what we owe ourselves for the sake of our collective survival. This is what we owe our generations yet unborn. The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny, PDP said.