Maduako Igbokwe I Thursday, June 15, 2023
AWKA, Nigeria – Anambra Vigilante Group, AVG said it is suspecting the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) for aiding crisis in Anambra state.
AVG said its suspicion followed a press statement credited to the rights group where it fingered AVG and the State Commissioner for Homeland Security, Chief Chikodi Anarah for unchecked killings of unarmed civilians as well as incessant unlawful arrests and arbitrary detention of innocent citizens.
AVG Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Nweke Nweke in Awka Anambra state capital said the security operative neither kills nor maims, but only arrests suspected criminals and hand them over to the police.
According to him, the Intersociety allegations against the security outfit and commissioner were mischievous and unfounded.
He said that the rights group should be aware of the mandate of the security outfit in the state, before it makes public statement about it.
According to him, the law that established the agency mandated it to arrest and hand over to the police for investigation and prosecutions.
He stated that purported barbaric and unchecked killings of unarmed civilians as well as incessant unlawful arrests and arbitrary detention as alleged by Intersociety was baseless.
He said , AVG has high regard for the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety),but it must not see it as weakness.
“We are shocked to our marrows that such unfounded allegation could emanate from a rights group known for the representation of the oppressed in the society.
“Keeping the record straight, we are working on the total and close regulation of the State Commissioner of Police, CP Echeng Echeng and there is no way the no-nonsense CP could close his eyes and watch AVG killing anybody and still allow us to be operating in the state.
“It is anticipated that the rights group should come up with commendations for the Hon. Commissioner for Homeland Security, Chief Chikodi Anarah (a.k.a Igbakaigba, and the men of the AVG who have staked their lives on daily bases to ensure that everybody across the state, including the Intersociety members sleep with two eyes closed, “he said.
He advised the group not lose its integrity by feeding the members of the public with information full of lies.
AVG Media and Publicity Secretary however denied that agency participated in the purported killing of eight defenseless citizens, including a Lagos-based businessman returning to the State with his Venza car and builders of his new house at Isuofia and Umuoma in Aguata Local Government Area in 2022 as alleged by Intersociety.
“Such incident as alleged by Intersociety is unknown to the AVG and the Hon. Commissioner for Homeland Security, Chief Chikodi Anarah as the outfit which has been receiving encomium from Ndi-Anambra both at home and in Diaspora for recapturing the hideouts that were taken over by the men of the underworld before the coming of the present administration would turn overnight and become a dog that eats the rope hung on its neck.
“Lastly, it is glaring that the State Police Command and its sisters’ security agencies have made tremendous arrests of suspects linked to the killing of the US Conveyor which took place within Ogbaru Council in the state recently and none of the suspects linked AVG men in the deadly act. We are wondering where the Intersociety generated what they dished out to the members of the public but at the right time, any person or group of persons that alleges may be compelled by the law to prove the allegation(s)”.
“The armed bandits and their supporters (including, the Intersociety) are losing the stranglehold on Anambra State as well as the battle to continue senseless killings in the state,”he stated .
AVG assured Ndi-Anambra that the quest of His Excellency Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo towards smoking out criminals from their hideouts across the state remains non-negotiable and as well, a task that must be accomplished, no matter the efforts of some criminal elements and other critics to demoralize them.
