The Anambra State Police Command recently made, on Monday, 23rd May 2022, an announcement stating that they had conclusively identified a few of the gunmen running amok in the state. In a statement made to a news crew in Awka, the State Commissioner of Police, Echeng Echeng insisted that there was nothing ‘unknown’ about the gunmen, despite the media and public terming them such. He said that the Command would soon launch attacks against them and lambasted indigenes of the affected communities whom he claimed had refused to give out valuable information concerning the criminals.
According to the CP, there was no use in unnecessarily mystifying the gunmen, they were and never have been unknown.
He said, “These people are not spirits, they live with us, they are our nephews, our cousins, our brothers and they live in communities as we do. We know who they are.”
Instead, Mr. Echeng placed the blame firmly on the part of observers and eyewitnesses where people would pretend like they hadn’t seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. He reminded Anambrarians that security was collective and everyone from security forces to the lay masses had important parts to play.
He also booed the idea spreading in some circles that the gunmen were Fulani in origin. This could not be further from the truth, the CP insisted, as they had been several arrests made already and none of them were from the Northern region. All of it was carried out successfully because correct information had been given and made available to the police.
