IN response the crisis which has been rocking Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra state for three days running, arising from a bloody clash between the police and people suspected to be members of Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra [MASSOB], Anambra State Government yesterday imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the commercial city, with a stern warning that violators of the curfew would be decisively dealt with. The curfew will last between 7pm and 6am and it will last for one week in the first instance.
Already, a joint military and police patrol has begun in Onitsha to forestall further crisis. Meanwhile, normalcy is gradually returning to the commercial city.
The crisis has taken a big toll on the economic activities in the state and the police have lost an Armoured Personnel Carrier [APC], some buses and a police station.
In a state wide broadcast, the second in 24hours, Governor Peter Obi said that he has briefed President Olusegun Obasanjo on the situation on ground and that the President " immediately and graciously took necessary action".
Obi said that the State Government was doing everything possible to restore law and order in Onitsha and warned that the Government would not spare any person or group of persons bent on disturbing the peace of the state.
According to him, " Anambra state is on the verge of a new era of peace that cannot be negotiated or compromised by anybody or group".
He said that the Government is working with the military and warned that any person who tries to cause more trouble would face the consequences which he said will be "unpleasant".
He further warned that the curfew is an order and any person who violates the order would face severe consequences.
Obi who traced the crisis in the state to the engagement of thugs by politicians in the state, said time has come to stamp them out of the state. He said that they were armed by the politicians who used them and now that their employers were out of power they turned to miscreants to cause trouble for the people.
" These people were invited by politicians. My predecessors armed thugs and now that those Governments have gone, they want to remain here and perpetrate crisis. We want to restore the security of the state to the constitutionally empowered agency not thugs. We will not tolerate thuggery and rascals. We will find a lasting solution when we discuss with stakeholders", the Governor said.
He assured that the markets in the state are secured and noted that the Government was aware that the beneficiaries of the crisis would not go and rest but warned that the government was ready for them.
Obi said he did not expect the people to fold their arms and accept the drastic changes he is introducing in the state but assured that it would be for their future benefit.
He said that the miscreants could be engaged in farming and that they could benefit from a micro-loan the government is trying to introduce for the people of the state.
" When you are changing a system, people will react. But let us change it once and for all. Today what you hear of Anambra state is NARTO, MASSOB, for God's sake why", the Governor wondered.
He called on parents and guardians to call their children to order to avoid facing dire consequences.
Vanguard.