This has been proven to be true by the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, Ebekuedike.
The security of Anambra State which has hitherto defied all known solutions was achieved within weeks of Obiano’s assumption of office.
The undaunting determination of the Governor to rid the state of criminals paid off with the establishment of operation kpochapu. A proper motivation was provided to law enforcement agents through supply of vehicles and a huge financial support. The resultant effect is the security that is now enjoyed in the state.
There is need to build on the current security to ensure it becomes enduring. Efforts need to be made to ensure that criminals that have fled the state do not return.
One way of ensuring an enduring security in the state is the proper engagement of community based vigilantes working in tandem with law enforcement agents.
Vigilantes or “ndi nche” as they are called in the local parlance are the solution of Anambra people to their security problems and became popular after the jungle justice operation embarked upon by Onitsha traders in 1979, when the traders who had lived in fear of notorious and well known criminals like Otondo, Khaki no be leather, Big Fish, Ali Scorpion etc, reacted by carrying out jungle justice against the criminals. The operation was popularly known as “Boys Oyee” and saw to the extra judicial killing of the criminals. Those that survived are the ones that escaped from the state. Vigilante groups were quickly formed by markets and communities to forestall the return of criminal.
Since then, the operation of vigilante in the state has gone from one stage of modification to another. The first attempt to sanitize their operation was made by Governor C.C. Mbadinuju (1999-2003) with the passing into law of Anambra Vigilante law No. 9 of 2000.
Today there is an estimated twenty thousand vigilante operatives in Anambra state and about one thousand vigilante units and sub units.
TYPES OF VIGILANTE GROUPS IN THE STATE:
CENTRAL VIGILANTE UNIT: These are the central vigilante groups in the 177 communities of Anambra state.
SUB UNITS: These are smaller vigilante groups in villages within a town, markets, residential areas etc.
PRIVATE ARMED GUARDS: These are armed guard services provided by some individuals. Such individuals are approached by markets, residential areas or business premises to provide them with armed guards on an agreed fee. The individuals often have a stockpile of arms for the service and able bodied young men looking for jobs are readily available to them. These armed guards are erroneously referred to as vigilantes. The providers of such services make a lot of money from supply of armed guards.
FUNDING:
Funding for vigilante operations in the state is sourced from security levy collection. Often times, a huge fund is available to the communities, markets or residential areas from the levies collected.
The community central vigilantes are further subvented by the State government through security grants. This is seen as discriminatory by the smaller units.
The vigilante groups also impose fines on parties who bring cases to them for settlement.
Vigilante operatives earn between ten thousand naira to thirty thousand naira monthly each.
It can thus be deduced that vigilante operation in Anambra state, apart from being a lucrative business, employs a reasonable number of youths who make their living from it. Their incongruous manner of operations and lack of control has grave implications for the state. Vigilante groups enjoy a wide acceptance by the people of Anambra state with many preferring to take their cases to them rather than to the Police. This underlines the need to apply necessary control so as to tap the immense benefits derivable of there.
This responsibility rest squarely on the State Governor and have informed the setting up of the Anambra State Vigilante Supervisory Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Ikechukwu Aduba, a retired Commissioner of Police of repute.
The committee has recorded quite a lot of successes within the short period of its establishment with the return of sanity in the way vigilante operatives handle fire arms.
One thing that must be avoided is the conflicting and inconsistent directive given to the police on vigilante operation which was witnessed in the past. Any good policy embarked upon in the past should be taken to a logical conclusion.
Also the government invested millions of naira in 2011 towards the establishment of a vigilante crack squad which never saw the light of day. This unnecessary should be avoided in future.
Another thing that should be avoided is people involved in managing of vigilante affairs using their position to enhance their private enterprise. This is capable of beclouding their judgment. This was a frequent occurrence in the past and seems to be rearing its ugly head again.
There is the need to build on the successes so far achieved and this can be done in the following ways:
To properly supervise and control vigilantes, a data base of the biometric record of the operatives needs to be built. The vigilante operatives are most likely to behave themselves knowing that their identity can be easily checked out. The software for developing the data base should be able to match names, finger prints and photos. Operatives who try to hide their identity can easily be detected.
The records so developed should be uploaded to a web site with restricted access. Only authorized police officers can access sensitive information. The identity of an operative or information on firearm can be easily verified be checking out the information on the website. Only general information should be accessible by the public.
A data base of vigilante chairmen phone numbers should be developed. Information on wanted criminals or security threats should be communicated to the vigilante chairmen through bulk sms for prompt action.
A code of conduct should be provided for the vigilante operatives.
It may be necessary to mention here, that a substantial data on vigilante operatives and arms has been developed for the state police command from February to December 2013 and only needs to be logically concluded and managed. A website has also been created and awaits the authorization of the Governor to be launched.
Finally, criminals who are chased away from urban areas such as Awka and Onitsha normally find safe haven in remote villages. It is my firm belief that if vigilante operatives in the villages are properly engaged, they can be used to route the fleeing criminals and so pave the way for an enduring security in Anambra state.
Chris Udeze, (080-35465459)
Lead Consultant- Exotic Solution Providers Limited.
Providers of security and data solutions and website designers.
