By Amarachi Ugbo
A Human Rights Activist, Comrade Osita Obi has called on the Federal government to intervene over the spate of missing persons in the area.
Speaking with newsmen in Awka, Comrade Obi said it was becoming almost normal for people to mysteriously disappear in Anambra without any trace, while life continues as if nothing has happened.,
He said besides persons who had fallen victim to kidnappers and who were never found, there have been three prominent individuals in the state, who have remained missing, and it appears nothing was being done to trace them.
According to him, a prominent businessman, Mr Benjamin Ezemma, House of Assembly member representing Onitsha North Constituency, Mr Justice Azuka and candidate of Labour Party in the Anambra 2021 governorship election, Mr Obiora Agbasimalo, all of who went missing at various times, and have not been seen afterwards.
The activist wondered why the Federal government subjected Nigerisns to the rigour of SIM registration and NIN when crimes were still being committed and ransome demanded by same phone numbers without active result by the security agencies.
Comrade Obi therefore called on the Federal government to mandate its numerous security operatives to make use of the data and all the information provided by Nigerians to fish out the kidnappers of the victims and perpetrators of other crimes in the area.
“We are urging police, DSS, NSA and other security to find this man. We are expecting that the authorities would have swung into action, without waiting for people like us to report the incident to them.
“Let these security agencies use the facilities available to them to track down his kidnappers. Even if it entails to monitor the call log of Ben through his service providers, we can use it to know the kind of person Ben was, and what he has been into and who he has been having dealings with”
While commending the Department of State Services, DSS, Anambra State Command for being on top of their job so far, the activist expressed displeasure over the operations of the Nigeria Police in the state which he alleged were all out to extort money from residents without paying attention to security details.
“I’m not happy with police performance in this matter. Anambra should not be a dumping ground for police officers who are due for retirement, who just come here to make money. If this continues, we may have no option than to protest it.”
While expressing happiness about the level of commitment the Department of State Services (DSS) in Anambra State has shown in the matter, he condemned the state police command for what he called glaring incompetence.
