*IF YOU SEE SOMETHING,SAY SOMETHING AND EARN 5M NAIRA (DIAL 511)*

By Hon Kamen Chuks Ogbonna 

Yesterday I paid a visit to the office of my good friend and guru in the media industry, Dr. Law Mefor. 

The visit served dual purposes; to personally congratulate him on his appointment as the Commissioner for Information, Anambra State, and to get more clarity on the newly launched security initiative of the state government, AGUNECHEMBA and in the process, also share my own ideas to the government on ways to ensure that this laudable security measure succeeds.

Something very significant played out during the last yuletide celebrations. Anambra people living outside the state staged a mass return that reverberated across the state with multiple ripple effects on the state's economy with most hotels in the state fully booked while the Christmas and New Year celebrations lasted. 

That was the biggest pointer to the fact that Ndi Anambra's collective resolve to take back their state from these non state actors has reached a crescendo or what science students would call a boiling point.

I was part of those that held the then unpopular opinion that the masses' "ENDSARS" reaction to the publicised cases of police brutality then by sacking police stations in the state and carting away their arms in several stations was way overboard. I described it then as a case of killing an ant with a sledge hammer.

My fear then, which later turned out to be well founded, was that hoodlums will take advantage of the situation and the consequences are some of the insecurity issues that we currently face in not just the state but the entire southeast region. 

I have, since then, been of the opinion that an aggressive and unconventional community based security initiative will have to come onboard to end this ugly tide and restore sanity back to our environment.

Having taken my time to go through the provisions of the recently passed homeland security law, I can categorically state that the movement towards restoring total sanity and safety back to our cities, towns and communities, has taken off in earnest once this initiative is followed up to the letter.

True to expectations, the stories of kidnappings have drastically reduced to ground zero within a few weeks of the introduction of AGUNECHEMBA. 

With a command and control centre as well as a call center that runs on a 24 hour basis, coupled with the strict measures adopted by the security operatives, some of which include the raiding of bunks across the state where illicit drugs are sold, raiding of hotels based on tips from whistle blowers and raiding of residences where Yahoo boys( internet fraudsters many of whom secretly engage in ritual killings and sales of body parts), operate from. Sanity is indeed gradually but surely returning to our state. 

Every Anambra indigene and resident in the state must join hands to own this initiative and ensure that it succeeds. 

This is a clarion call that transcends beyond political interests or affiliations. We must all join hands to secure our state from the hands of these criminals, most of whom are not from Anambra and as a result do not possess the Anambra spirit of industry and indomitable zeal to excel in various aspects of life ranging from academia, sports, commerce etc.

Social media influencers, irrespective of political party affiliations, should take this up as a social responsibility to properly enlighten the masses especially the youths to become more wary of their movements and association as anyone caught will find out the hard way; that it is no longer business as usual. 

Some of the security measures put in place by the Agunechemba like the demolition of houses used for the purposes of kidnapping or "messaging" of those proven to be culpable, may seem harsh but unusual circumstances do warrant unusual measures and Ndi Anambra have suffered untold horror in the hands of these criminals and kidnappers. 

A premium Anambra man or woman reduced to a chick that walks and looks over his shoulder intermittently to avoid being snatched suddenly by a hawk is the highest level of debasement to our proud psyche and therefore totally unacceptable.

So folks, take this new update and get to work. 

See Something 

Say something 

And if your information turns out to be genuine, you will smile to the bank with 5 Million Naira.

Just dial 511 

May AGUNECHEMBA SUCCEED.