The police in Anambra has blamed residents over its inability to tackle armed bandits popularly known as unknown gunmen in the state.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Echeng Echeng, while casting the blame on Monday told journalists in Awka that the armed bandits who have repeatedly attacked individuals, government facilities and security agencies were all known to residents who have refused to divulge information on how to tame the monster.
TODAY POLITICS observed that insecurity in the state worsened since Governor Charles Soludo who began by blaming Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) when he took over, a similar pathway his Imo State counterpart, Hope Uzodimma, towed before turning around to accuse politicians when the monster grew out of control in his domain.
Although IPOB has severally distanced itself from the attacks, TODAY POLITICS also observed that attacks in Imo have since reduced since politicians were being blamed.
“There is nothing unknown about the gunmen terrorising Anambra State,” Mr Echeng asserted. “We have been trying to mystify something that is not just there.”
“These people are not spirits. They live with us. They are our nephews, our cousins, our brothers, and they live in our communities. We know who they are.”
According to him, “the narrative that the gunmen are Fulani herders is not true. The people operating as gunmen are Igbos.”
The commissioner described the claim that the gunmen live in the forest as false. He said the gunmen usually return to their communities after they were done with the attacks.
He stressed that the terror group only has shrines in the forest, adding that some shrines had been destroyed by police operatives.
“These criminals live among the people. The major challenge police are having in the fight against the gunmen in Anambra State is that residents, especially community leaders in the affected communities, are not giving information about the identities of these killer men to us.
“We should be able to come up with information of what is happening in our communities, not glorifying them and tagging them as unknown gunmen,” Mr Echeng added.
