TO all intents and purposes, last week’s incident at Porsche nightclub, Oba, in Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State in which five people lost their lives following an attack by gunmen is distressing. The victims, including members of a local vigilance group who had put up a resistance when the gunmen stormed the club, were gunned down in cold blood by the assailants who reportedly invaded the club in large numbers, throwing a peaceful, bustling atmosphere into utter pandemonium. Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the police recovered some bodies from the scene, adding that several other persons sustained injuries. According to Ikenga, the police were alerted upon receiving information about the attack and quickly moved to the scene but the gunmen had already fled. He said: “Our men have recovered the bodies of the vigilante operatives who were fatally wounded, while others sustained various degrees of injury. We have also fully deployed our men to Oba and operation is ongoing. So far, no arrest has been made.”
The attack, dastardly as it was, did not come to some residents of the community as a surprise. A native doctor popularly known as Akwa Okuko was kidnapped some months ago by gunmen in his hotel in the same community, and was only released after reportedly paying millions of naira as ransom. During last week’s incident, the outlaws kidnapped the owner of the club, whom eyewitnesses suspected was their real target, after they had beheaded one of the guards, whose head and leg they reportedly left the venue with. Subsequently, the state Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye, speaking in Awka, the state capital, said that the victims included two members of a local vigilance group, a bouncer, and two fun seekers, and that the owner of the club was also abducted by the attackers. Describing the incident as unfortunate and vowing to hunt down the perpetrators, Adeoye said: “We got a distress call at about 2 am, Monday. The DPO, Oba Division, led police officers and members of the local vigilance group to the scene, but the attackers had already fled the scene. The police Rapid Response Squad from Awkuzu was on patrol in the area from 6p.m. to midnight before moving to other parts of the state and the incident happened after the team had left the area.”
It is indeed saddening that human life has become such a trifle in the country, with outlaws able to decree death and destruction to virtually any citizen any time they so wish, leaving sorrow, tears and blood in their trail. No doubt, people should be extremely vigilant, especially during this festive season when criminal acts tend to spike, but it is still the business of the government to protect life and property. To say the very least, such an attack as witnessed last week in Oba, Anambra State, is not good for business and the image of the Nigerian state. At the risk of repeating ourselves for the umpteenth time, it has to be stated that the country is now defined essentially by insecurity and the absolute lack of respect for the security infrastructure and architecture of the government by outlaws. This is why criminals feel free to attack people any time and at any place, knowing that the government and its security agencies are simply overwhelmed and in no position to realistically confront and overpower them. All that Nigerians receive are ineffectual promises about ensuring the arrest of criminals after the act even as the criminals know that no arrest is assured with the government and security agencies utterly incapable of meeting the sophistication, effectiveness and efficiency that they (criminals) exhibit.
The fact that the government continues to pretend that any serious investor would seek to do business in an environment marked by insecurity is baffling. It ought to be clear that pervasive insecurity is a recipe for growing economic downturn, with investors sure not to risk their portfolios in such an environment. It is certainly in the interest of the government and the security agencies to sit up at some point and apprehend the unsustainability of the current risky situation and work to overcome the pervasive insecurity in the land. One way to do that is to shelve promises and actually go all out to arrest the daredevil criminals who perpetrated the instant incident for appropriate prosecution and punishment and use that standpoint to send strong signals that criminals truly cannot evade paying maximally for their atrocities going forward.
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