Edo State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Hon. Paul Ohonbamu, has condemned what he described as the gory tale painted about the state by the member representing Esan West, Esan Central and Igueben Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Marcus Onobun that the state government is overwhelmed by the frequent killings and rising insecurity in the state.
The commissioner told newsmen in Benin that in as much as the legislator is performing his rightful duties by drawing the attention of the speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas to the security situation in Edo State, it is not true that the state governor is overwhelmed by the situation which is receiving urgent attention by the administration.
He said, “The security of lives and property of the people is one of the cardinal goals of the governor who swiftly moved to ameliorate the lapses created by the past administration of former Governor Godwin Obaseki with the necessary provision of the working tools for the security agencies.
“While we welcome the need to intensify intelligence gathering and surveillance operations to identify and neutralise criminal flashpoints within the state, and deployment of additional security personnel, it is not in good taste to conclude that the state governor is overwhelmed with the security challenges.
“There is nowhere in the world that the citizens are not grappling with the issue of security and a responsible government is saddled with the responsibility to ensure that the people are safe and that is exactly what Governor Okpebholo has done immediately he assumed office and he has not in any way relented.
“The government has given notice to all criminal elements within and from outside the state to leave the state as their days are numbered and there have been several arrests and investigations going on.
“There is no doubt that the manhunt for the criminals will obviously take some time to be able to get rid of all the criminals from the state, therefore, there is the need to exercise some patience with the security agencies, as they do their jobs, but the good news is that there are positive results.
“As the onslaught by the security agencies against criminals spread across the state, nowhere will be comfortable for them and the state will not be a safe haven for kidnappings and violent attacks as stated by Hon Marcus Onobun recently while raising a motion of urgent public importance on the need to curb the rising cases of killings in the state during a plenary session of the House of Representatives.”
