Charles Nwekeaku, the Secretary General of the Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, has recounted a personal experience of how he wanted to travel to Abuja from the South East but was stopped by a security agent who reminded him that it was Monday. He highlighted that the security agents are always absent from their posts on Mondays in the South East.
He argued that their absence creates a security vacuum that is exploited by external forces, which contribute to the region’s security challenges. He further pinpointed the case of the Owerri Correctional Center invasion, where unknown gunmen operated unchecked for three hours despite the proximity of the state police command, government house, and military base.
He said in an interview with Arise TV from 4:49, “I was going to the Airport to travel to Abuja on that Monday. And the security agent stopped me and said, ‘Oga, you don’t know today is Monday.’ I said, ‘And so what?’ So, you see that on Monday, when the security agents are supposed to stay in their position and man the various places in the South East, you won’t see them. But every other day, you see them on the road. We believe that part of the security challenges we are having in the Southeast are sponsored by external forces.
And I want to give an example: when the Owerri Correctional Center was invaded for almost 3 hours, the Owerri Correctional Center is not far from the state police command and equally close to the government house. And it is about a 10-minute drive to the military base in that area, but the so-called unknown gunmen operated for close to 3 hours and no person was arrested.”