Isaac Ojo
The traditional ruler of Nnewi, HRM Dr Kenneth Igwe Orizu 111 on Saturday appreciated security operatives working in Nnewi and environs.
In his introductory remarks, the chairman, Igwe Nnewi Royal Cabinet, Chief Dan Ulasi said that Nnewi is the public view of the nation as the industrial town has blazed the trail on many fronts.
Chief Ulasi noted that three Heads of State has at different times visited the town which according to him is a demonstration of the importance of Nnewi in nation building.
He said emphatically that Nnewi under normal circumstances deserves to be given all the infrastructures so that the industrialists and manufacturers who God has blessed the town with will continue to be in production.
Chief Ulasi appreciated the security operatives for what they have done to effectively police the commercial town.
The chairman of the Igwe Nnewi Royal Cabinet also charged the police authorities to urgently checked the way and manner with which known gangsters are given police protection at the expense of industrialists and manufacturers who are playing critical roles in the development of the nation.
In his own speech, Prince Obi Orizu who stood in for the aged royal father raised the issue of how the special anticult squad of the police barged into people’s residence at unholy hours to make arrest suspected cultists noting that allegations of extortions are rife.
The Crown Prince said that the community is not by any means supporting the cultists but advocated the need for the police to work out a robust approach to tackle the cultists and cultism.
Prince Obi also called the attention of the security agencies to the increasing cases of child stealing in the industrial town as well as indiscriminate arrest and extortion of commercial motorcyclists.
The Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr John Abang while thanking Igwe Nnewi for his gesture noted that policing Anambra State and Nnewi in particular has not been a tea party affair.
He however stated that Onitsha and Nnewi communities contributed in no small way to the Community Police Partnership project.
CP Abang noted that the security architecture already in place in Nnewi is assisting police tremendously.
On the issue of the midnight arrest of suspected cultists, the CP said that there is no part of the nation’s constitution that says arrest cannot be made at any time but promised that the command will fashion out a way to get their job of securing the town done with human face.
In a chat with journalists a beneficiary of the Igwe Nnewi gesture, Mr Maduka Atuenyi who is the leader of AVG said that it was a great honor to be appreciated by the highly revered monarch and a living sage.
Mr Atuenyi, who served as Security Police in USA for twenty two years and an aspirant for the position of Nsuko Nnewi chairmanship said the monarch’s appreciation is a moral booster.
The occasion was graced by the former Anambra State governor, Dame Virgy Etiaba, Chief Innocent Chukwuma and other members of Igwe Nnewi Royal Cabinet.
The Anambra State Commissioner of Police and other twenty one security operatives drawn from police, DSS, FRSC, Civil Defense, Correctional Center and AVG got appreciated.