All the Council Chairmen in Ebonyi State has been given 7 days ultimatum by Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, yesterday to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crimes that took place within their localities during the #EndSARS Protest.
He explained that those who would come forward would receive amnesty.
According to the Governor who stated this at New Government, House, Abakaliki when he received in audience the Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG, Celestine Okoye told the Chairmen that he would not tolerate any excuses from them.
“I have called the three Local Government Chairmen and the Coordinators to task you, the people that came to destroy us are from these three local government areas. They have shown themselves. Some of them that have bullet wounds have also confessed. So, I have called you to demand that you bring them to me. I am going to be giving you seven days to bring them to me and there will be no excuses.
“Two ways we can approach it; if you bring them, I can show them amnesty and rehabilitate them but if you don’t bring them, I will fish them out of the forest.”
Governor David Umahi further announced that the government of Ebonyi State had set aside the sum of N2.6 billion naira for the empowerment of over 2600 youths drawn from the 13 council areas of the State.
He explained that there is an urgent need for the youths to be economically empowered so that they can steer clear of every form of violence.
Umahi stated that the empowerment will go a long way in giving the youth sound economic footing because an “idle man” is in popular parlance, “is a devil’s workshop”.
Governor Umahi also appealed for peace and ceasefire while explaining his readiness to rehabilitate the youths who have gone the wrong way of looting, killing and destroying government property in the state.
“My position as the Governor of Ebonyi State is that whether you are IPOB, militants, criminal, or a cultist, I have put down the SME fund,; the loan we got from the CBN to give it to you and that is N2.6 billion. That will be for 200 people per LGA.
“Again and again, I call on the youths, the good, the bad, the ugly, we have N2.6 billion. We want the local government chairmen, the coordinators, let us identify these 200 people. Not when we ask you to do this, you go and write the names of your brothers and sisters that are working or on government appointment. We need to take off 200 youths from the street.
“So, we believe we can rehabilitate these people, retrain them and then get them something doing. It is an olive branch which I am offering to them. The good ones and the bad ones can also benefit from it”.
