The pioneer Military Administrator of Delta, Air Commodore Luke Ochulor (rtd), has called for an aggressive youths’ re-orientation to stem the tide of a new wave of insecurity in the South-East.
Ochulor made the call on Sunday while speaking to newsmen in Enugu on a solution to growing insecurity and attack on security and other Federal Government facilities in the zone.
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According to him, there is a need for aggressive re-orientation programmes to positively change the mindset of the young men in the zone.
He said: “The youths cannot solve their problems by shooting into the air and attacking the security formations and operatives.
“Military operation does not solve the problem also. This type of operation requires a subtle mind and orientation change approach and thorough investigation’’.
Ochiulor noted that the zone was previously adjudged the safest and most peaceful regretted that the recent events in the zone had portrayed it in a bad light.
He said that he had expected the governors in the zone to have organised the security of their states so that residents would have full confidence in the government.
Ochulor, however, cautioned against full-blown military operations in the zone as most innocent residents who knew nothing about the issue at stake might be exposed to danger or even get killed.
“Security operatives should devise a means of tracking the criminals and arresting them rather than shooting-on-sight any young man because there is no way every young Igbo man can be classified as a criminal.
“Actually, the criminals among them are on drugs. They do not have parental attachment.
“They should know that their toeing a warpath would never solve their problems. But they don’t understand,’’ he said.
The former military administrator also expressed dissatisfaction with a proposed bill by the National Assembly specifying a 15-year jail term for anyone who paid ransom to kidnappers.
According to him, before a government promulgates a law, it must first of all think of its implementation.
He called on the National Assembly to promulgate a law that made it mandatory that anyone found guilty of kidnapping, should either face life jail or the death penalty.
“They should first make a law to deter the lawbreaker or potential kidnapper from the act. They should focus more on preventive measures,’’ he said.
On the ban on open grazing in Southern Nigeria, Ochulor said that the southern governors’ pronouncement would just end up as mere verbal pronouncement without implementable and effective laws across their states.
“The implication is that the people may see them as jokers and nobody would take them seriously any longer,’’ he added.
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