The Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has reacted to the burning of the Nnewi South Local Government Area secretariat in Ukpor by some armed men in the early hours of Thursday, stating that “Ndị Anambra cannot be repressed by a few criminal elements.”
This reaction came following the governor’s visit to the scene of the attack that reportedly claimed the life of one of the security men in the Council secretariat.
The PUNCH reported that a gang of armed men, on Thursday morning, razed the Nnewi South Local Government Area Headquarters in Ukpor, Anambra State, allegedly killing one man.
Reacting to the incident in a post uploaded to his Facebook Page alongside pictures of the wreckage of the burnt building, Soludo said, “This mindless bloodletting and destruction of infrastructure does not define who we are! Nothing can justify these acts of criminality.
“As I looked at what is left of the rubbles, I asked myself, ‘in all this, who loses?’ Structures built from the taxes paid by the genuinely hard-working men and women on the streets are ruined for reasons that are incomprehensible to sane minds.”
The governor stated that the resources which would have been channelled into providing for the people of the state, especially the taxpayers, would now be used to reconstruct destroyed buildings and rebuild missing records.
He condemned the act and said continuing in such act of criminality would make it very impossible to make any meaningful progress in the state.
Soludo, however, said a few criminal elements could not repress the people of Anambra.
“Quite frankly, ndị Anambra cannot be repressed by a few criminal elements. Our resolve to entrench law and order is total, no amount of wanton destruction will cower us,” the governor said.
Remembering some police officers who lost their lives to the activities of gunmen in the state a year before, Soludo stated that his government would not relent in its effort to make Anambra liveable and prosperous.
“I remember with a deep sense of grief, the three gallant police officers – Inspector Murtala Saudi, Sgt. Mudassir Ahmed, and Sgt. Samuel Ishaya – who lost their lives to the Unknown Gunmen who attacked us at a meeting with the youths in my village on this day last year. We pledge to continue to take care of their families, and for their sake and many others who lost their lives to the sheer wickedness of a few misguided people, we shall not relent in our effort to make Anambra Liveable and Prosperous,” the governor wrote.
Credit: PUNCH