By Ogar Monday
The Director General of the Greater Calabar Capital City Development Agency, Mr. Kingsley Ikpeme has said that the maiming and killing of young people due to gang related activities is alien to the state.
Mr. Ikpeme gave the during a recent visit to the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of the police zone 6 where he charged them to mop up illegally acquired arms and take security in the Calabar metropolis more serious especially as the electioneering season draws close.
“The issue of cult clash which has led to the death and maiming of young Cross Riverians is alien to us. We have had people in their early twenties and thirties as political leaders; the likes of the late M.T. Mbu, Ndoma Egba, Donald Duke, Clement Ebri. Even Senator Liyel Imoke became a Senator in his late twenties. Now all we see is young person killing themselves in the name of cultism,” Ikpeme said.
Mr. Ikpeme, who solicited a partnership, also called for those in possession of illegal firearms and perpetrators of crimes to be dealt with in accordance with the law.
He averred that: “We are calling on the police to use all machineries within your legal powers to bring these persons to book and also arrest their sponsors, as most of them don’t look like they could afford these weapons,” adding that: “There can be no meaningful development in any society without peace and security and as we plan on expanding the Calabar city to include the seven local governments of the southern senatorial districts.”
Responding, the AIG, Mr. Usman Abubakar pledged an open door for Mr. Ikpeme to expand their areas of partnership.
The AIG who was represented by a Deputy Commissioner of Police in the zone, Mr. Augustine Sanome, added that the police should be allowed to look into the greater Calabar city master plan, to enable it make necessary security inputs.