South East Governors Meet Goodluck Over Boko Haram Threat

South-East governors met with President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in order to avert Boko Haram attack in the zone.

Governor Willy Obiano of Anambra State, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues said, “They (Boko Haram) can’t get there (South-East). I can assure you of that. We will not allow that to happen.

“I can’t tell you in any material details about bombs found or not found. All I can assure you is that we are on the alert in the South-East and we are watching what is going on.

“I can assure you that Boko Haram cannot come to the South-East.”

Obiano said the governors decided to meet with Jonathan to assure him of their support as he faces the challenges of nation-building.

He claimed that the President was under immense pressure and that some unnamed persons were making his work more tedious.

But the governor did not name such people “adding kerosene to fire” instead of supporting the President to take the nation out of the woods.

He said, “The President is a human being and he is under a lot of pressure and some other people are making his work a lot more difficult.

“But we are here to tell him that we are here supporting him and that he should count on us.”

Other governors who attended the meeting are Theodore Orji of Abia State; Martins Elechi, Ebonyi   and Sullivan Chime, Enugu.

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha whose domain the Sunday tragedy was averted was however absent from the meeting with Jonathan.

Okorocha later explained through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, that his absence was not intentional.

He said he had a more important meeting to attend with the security chiefs in the state.

He added, “After the meeting with the security chiefs, there was an expanded meeting with the vigilante members and other local security groups in the state.

“All the meetings we had were to ensure that we do not give room for criminals to infiltrate the state and cause harm or damage. We had to check and mount heavy security presence on our borders rather than go to Abuja.

“Under normal circumstances, the South-East governors should have come here or even issue a press release.”

Okorocha wondered why his absence from the meeting should be an issue.

He said he only returned to Owerri on Sunday after attending the national convention of the All Progressives Congress and that it was only proper he attended to the pressing security challenges “at   home rather than jump off to Abuja again.”

The governor advised that “the issue of Boko Haram should be seen as a war declared against the country.”

“We should all fight against it( insurgency) collectively instead of politicising it or trading blames,”Okorocha said.

Okorocha has however initiated a programme known as ‘Know your Neighbour,’ to make the people of the state to become security conscious and share information that could help in forestalling any attack by Boko Haram and other criminals.

The State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Theo Ekechi, said the programme was launched during a stakeholders’ meeting on   Monday.

The state Commissioner of Police, the head of Civil Defence, paramilitary personnel teachers, leaders of commercial tricycle union   and all members of the state executive council were present at the   meeting.

He said, “If we all take security as our personal responsibility, we are not going to be oblivious of what is happening around us. We should always be on the alert and know what is happening around us.

“We formally launched a programme that is called Know Your Neighbour, which is intended to help all of us become vigilante personnel.

“It means everybody in Imo State will become a vigilante member and we will get information and share telephone numbers that are available in the public domain in case there is any alert.

“It was also agreed that it was through information that the explosives planted in a church were uncovered. There may have been suspicion; there may have been some infiltration.”

Explaining that it was natural for people to be afraid after such an incident, the commissioner added that the people of the state had already been told to go about their business without fear   since normalcy had returned to the state.