Security: Enugu Leaders Of Thought Pass Vote Of Confidence In Gov Ugwuanyi

Leaders of thought in Enugu State, consisting of traditional rulers, religious and opinion leaders, representatives of various bodies, among others, Thursday, passed a vote of confidence in Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for diligently discharging his responsibilities as chief security officer of the state. They stated this after a closed-door meeting with the governor held at the Enugu Government House.

The president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, who addressed newsmen after the meeting, said the leaders examined recent security developments in the state as well as the actions taken by Gov Ugwuanyi to arrest the situation to ensure that the state remained safe and peaceful.

He said the stakeholders reaffirmed their support for Gov Ugwuanyi’s efforts towards ensuring that the state remained one of the safest in the country, adding that the governor also informed them during the meeting that he had given a directive to all the local government chairmen in the state to strengthen their security architecture in consultation with the traditional rulers and presidents-general of their respective town unions.

According to him, the state security council equally discussed the recent civil disturbances in the state, and reassured them (leaders) that ‘the state government will do everything in its powers to see that whoever was found to have not acted in conformity with the law will be adequately dealt with’.

Justifying the vote of confidence, the Ohanaeze leader said: “In the last few days, an economic review of the state has shown that out of the six most viable states in Nigeria, Enugu State is one of them. The viability of each state was recorded on the basis of their capacity to generate enough internally generated revenue to sustain their recurrent expenditure without dependence on federal allocations.

“If Enugu State government can attract businessmen to come to the state and pay taxes, then Enugu must be investment-friendly. To be investment-friendly, Enugu must be safe. And this credit goes to our state governor and his team. And we felt we should move a vote of confidence and tell him that we are proud of the way he is discharging his responsibilities. And we urged him to continue to be doing what he has been doing.”

THE WHISTLER reports that Gov Ugwuanyi, during the meeting, signed the Enugu State Forest Guard Act, 2020, recently enacted by the state House of Assembly, into law, and further directed the council chairmen to ensure the effective operations of the law. He also briefed the leaders on herdsmen’s activities in some of the local government areas in the state, and actions taken in consultations with the security agencies.