Following the abduction of a former Delta State Commissioner of Technical Education, Joan Onyemaechi by gunmen and the murder of her security aide, a group, Initiative for Social Rights Concerns And Advancement, ISRCA, on Wednesday urged Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to disband Operation Delta Hawk security outfit.
The group said the outfit has not been able to address the high rate of kidnappings, killings and other forms of crime in the state.
ISRCA National Coordinator, Comrade Derrick Oritsematosan Agberen made the call in a statement in Warri.
The group said the activities of the security outfit have been reduced to vetting just drivers licenses, car particulars and harassing residents.
It also accused the outfit of extortion.
According to the group, “Operation Delta Hawk have deviated from its core responsibilities. They are also unskilled and not conversant with the bushes and forests, hence defeats the purposes of its establishment.”
ISRCA also said the governor should replace Operation Delta Hawk with Forest Hunters Volunteer Group and Anti-Cult Volunteers to work directly under the supervision of the Delta State Police Command.
The group insisted that Operation Delta Hawk is comprised of different security agencies which are under the payroll of the Federal Government of Nigeria and as such, should be dispatched to their place of primary assignments while financial budgets that goes alongside be redirected towards employing the Forest Hunters Volunteer Group and Anti-Cult Volunteers as state security outfits.
According to the group, “This will not only help to boost employment among members of the group in the states, as the group are mostly indigenous people of Delta but also will help to address and directly confront the issues of kidnapping and terrorist activities in the bushes and forests.
“Insecurity in the State have reached a point that nobody is safe, not even government officials are exempted.
“While, I commiserate with the family of the Police aide to Hon. Joan Onyemaechi, who lost his life in regards to the suspected kidnappings attack, where Hon. Joan Onyemaechi, a former commissioner of Technical Education was kidnapped and taken through the River Niger, with certainty that she’ll return back home safely; the State Government mustn’t wait for it to get to this point before giving serious attention.
“Therefore, the Delta State Government should do all within its ability to be proactive to issues of insecurity by devising measures or better still adhere to suggestive procedures.
“The Forest Hunters Volunteer Group and Anti-Cult Volunteers as State Security Outfits had volunteered themselves in the fight against crimes, especially in the forest and bushes but have lacked State Government supports, in the area of funding and other logistics. Disbanding the Operation Delta Hawk would help to redirect state funds to sustaining this aspect of security in the state.”
