Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has granted amnesty to 41 youths in Igbo-Eze North local government area of the state who renounced their militant activities in the area.
The youths who surrendered their weapons to the government was part of peace and dialogue initiated by the government to stem the several months of unrest and insecurity in the Council area which had claimed so many lives on both sides.
The event held at the Igbo-Eze North LGA Pavillion, Ogrute, Enugu-Ezike marked a turning point in the several efforts for peace and stability in the area which has been pursued by several stakeholders from the area for some months before now.
The Chairman of Igbo-Eze North LGA, Prince Ejike Itodo who represented Governor Ugwuanyi at occasioned, described the event as the most important of all and the high point of the Christmas and New Year celebration in the area.
He described peace and security as the beauty of government and thanked those who were passionate about a better Igbo-Eze North, adding that the significance of the event was that the people of Igbo-Eze North had sent the devil and its agents packing.
He, therefore, commended the leadership sagacity of the governor who decided to curb the lingering insecurity in Igbo-Eze North by granting all the youths that have repented and dropped their weapons amnesty.
The LG Chairman, Prince Itodo also handed over two (2)Hilux Security Vehicles procured by the government for the Neighbourhood Watch, Igbo-Eze North Chapter to the Divisional Police Officer, Igbo-Eze North Police Division, CSP Akor Simon.
Prince Itodo thanked the stakeholders in attendance for sacrificing their time to witness the programme and then advised the repented youths to disseminate the good news to others at large for them to repent and re-unite with their communities.
Chief Alexander Uramah , PDP chairman, Igbo-Eze North Chapter, opined that the root cause of the insecurity was joblessness and expressed his satisfaction for the gesture of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Hon. Prince Itodo in curbing the menace.
Some of the repentant youths like Ogbonna Okonkwo from Aguibeje , Odinaka Odo from Olido and Somadina Omeje , popularly known as King George Bush from Umuogboagu , who spoke on behalf of the youths in their separate speeches, regretted their actions and blamed it on the devil and promised to turn into new leaves and be part of the peace process being sought by government and meaningful people of Igboeze North.
SaharaReporters had reported that Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi had imposed curfew, 6 to 6 dusk to dawn following exacerbated insecurity in the entire council.
Shortly after, soldiers sent to the area started committing extrajudicial killings, which led to the women of the local government area to protest in their thousands against the operations of soldiers, questioning whether they were for them or against them.