With moves towards the 2022 elections in full swing, Nigerians were shocked that Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, Senator, represent­ing Anambra South, was last Sun­day attacked by unknown gunmen.

The gunmen, who opened fire on the Senator’s convoy at Enugu Ukwu in Njikoka Local Govern­ment of Anambra State, reportedly killed five people, including police officers.

The attack came on the heels of several such attacks in the South East geo-political zone of the coun­try, raising fears that the 2023 gen­eral elections could be adversely affected by such negative actions.

In his reaction Dr Frank Freds Nwosu, who spoke from his Aba base in Abia State, noted that the threat of insecurity in Nigeria has been upgraded from the poor unarmed citizens to the high and mighty.

According to Nwosu, a Member of the Nigerian Institute of Man­agement (MNIM), the recent attack on the convoy of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah is an unforgettable land­mark in this era’s political history, stressing that the authorities and eyewitnesses were yet to agree on the exact number of casualties in the dastardly attack.

Dr Nwosu said: “With a well-armed convoy of a known political pillar so fearlessly confronted and scattered, a clear signal has already been sent to all politicians in the Southeast of the country, that non-state actors are not only watching them, but also tooling to confront them.

“Without any effort to jeop­ardise investigations, media files are awash with street pictures of the attacked senator with the masses during his campaigns, and fraught with snide comments and complaints, delivering subliminal messages — that the people of his area are disgruntled about many things surrounding his political posturing.

“Issues with Biafra agitation, Fulanisation undercurrents, mas­sive hunger precipitated by rising cost of food…these and more are matters that all Southeast politi­cians must address – and publicly come clear with their stance – or risk such mindless waste of lives to unknown attackers.

“Even what we all pretend to be ‘unknown-this-and-that’ are ap­parently, even obviously, creative Third Forces or Fifth Columnists emerging from the political hypoc­risies of the incumbent political authorities.

“This portends serious dan­ger for the political and economic fortunes of the Southeast. It even threatens the freedom of the accom­plished Nigerian citizens to take a stand on raging political issues.

“It is a clearly unsavoury wind that is sure to birth an inauspicious political season, sooner than later.”

Contributing, Hon. Charles Anike, the National President of Eastern Union (EU), a political pressure group for the people of Old Eastern Region, the attack on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah was condem­nable as it was shocking.

Anike, an Abuja-based politi­cal activist, said: “We condemn in strong terms the bloody attack on the Distinguished Senator, Chief Ifeanyi Ubah some few days ago.

“The attack and other similar attacks on our people is condem­nable and we of the Eastern Union join all well-meaning citizens to not only condemn such, but urge the security agents to go extra miles to unravel the perpetrators.”

Anike continued: “For some time now, it has become a regular occurrence and of great concern for unwarranted attacks and kill­ings of both highly placed indi­viduals in Anambra State in par­ticular. And for that reason, Gov. Charles Soludo since assumption of office, had not left any stone un­turned in trying to bring the issue of insecurity in the state to a bear­able minimum.

“Unfortunately, those efforts have not yielded the expected re­sults, because it seems that the more he tries, the more the crimi­nal elements increase their terror activities in and around the state.

“The attack and assassination attempt on Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah for whatever reason is unwarranted and condemnable on its entity, because the Senator is one of the Senators in the state, who have shown outstanding commitments to the empowerment and welfare of the people in his constituency in particular and beyond.

“The terror gangs in the State and its environs have in the recent time become more daring and have been directing their satanic attacks on the state’s lawmakers, kidnap­ping and killing their victims.

“The activities of these terror gangs in Anambra State in partic­ular and South-East in general has got to an alarming rate and require urgent and emergency attention, if the people of the zone must par­ticipate effectively in the coming general elections.

“Our organisation, EU, has at different fora called on the gov­ernments and the leaders of the South-East zone to wake up from the slumber to unite against all forms of criminality going on in the zone.

“An English philosopher, Ed­mond Burke stated that ‘The only condition necessary for the tri­umph of evil is for good men to do nothing’.

“In this line of thinking, it is ob­vious that all the good men in the South-East have chosen to do noth­ing, hence the criminal elements are having free days and innocent blood are being shed daily in and around the zone.

“For the leaders to continue to pretend not to know that some­thing very serious is wrong in the South-East, especially in terms of security, is a heinous crime and a dreadful transgression on the part of the leaders.

“It is very clear now, that those killer gangs have over time gradu­ated from just merely kidnapping, killing and terrorizing ordinary citizens, they now have extended their terrorism to high profile in­dividuals.

“Therefore, to keep folding hands and watching, or better still, hiding in Lagos and Abuja is obvi­ously no longer the way forward out the menaces, because somehow as nature demands one thing or the other will always bring us home to the East.

“We have over the period tried to reach out to some of our lead­ers on the need for us to convene a South-East leaders and youth sum­mit, where this very disturbing and dangerous development can be discussed and addressed before the 2023 general elections.

“But, it seems everyone among our leaders have been overwhelmed by the activities of the terror gangs. This is all how it started like a child’s play in the North East and leaders then watched without do­ing anything, but rather politicised it and embarked on blame games.

“Today, terrorism in the North East has become a global concerns. And the South-East leaders didn’t seem to learn from that, as they have also taken a back seat, watch­ing things degenerate in the zone and the environs.

“Most of them pretend that they don’t know about the incessant kidnappings and killings, taking place daily in the East. Some oth­ers chose to blame various govern­ments, while others blame non-state actors like IPOB or Fulanis herdsmen. The truth however, is that all the above are no solution to the challenges.

“The only way out is to start coming together to join forces to assist the various governments and security agents to end these menaces. The criminals are hav­ing free days because our leaders are still standing akimbo and not ready to get committed.

“We must learn and take a cue from our Yoruba brothers and set up a similar independent se­curity outfit like the Amotekun Security outfit. Unfortunately, the Ebubeagu, which would have been of similar arrangement, was ill conceived and therefore detested by the people, just like they detest­ed the Warrant Chiefs of the colo­nial era.

“That goes a long way to show how untrusted our present polit­ical leaders have become, as they have completely lost touch with the people. It is advisable they try as much as possible and urgently too, to restore confidence of the people, otherwise they are worse than co­lonial masters.

“Their lack of transparency and impunity is the major reason that has reduced them to be seen as mere task masters.

“The Eastern Union is offering its platform once again and call­ing on all well-meaning sons and daughters from the South-East to urgently come together for a peace summit across the South-East be­fore the general elections.”

Chief Dr. Emeka Kalu, Direc­tor-General, Global Initiatives For Good Governance (GIGG), lamented that it was a sorry sight the was Senator Ubah of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and the Chief Executive Officer of Capi­tal Oil Ltd, was brutally attacked, leading to the death of one of his drivers and few officers in his se­curity detail.

Kalu maintained that as an advo­cacy group, the GIGG condemned in totality this wanton show of barbarism for Senator Ubah, who had through his personal invest­ment earnings been empowering Anambra youths and Nigerians in general.

Kalu stressed: “In the entire South Eastern region, this sorry state portends danger on the fast approaching 2023 general elections, and if not tackled, would heat up the polity and then getting the entire region highly occupied by stern looking security operatives, which will likely scare the people from coming out en masse to vote for their candidates of choice in the elections…

“Global Initiatives for Good Gov­ernance therefore demands that Governor Charles Soludo, in his discretion, should call an urgent security meeting with relevant stakeholders, to tackle the grow­ing menace of violent killings and other related crimes in Anambra State.

“South Eastern part of Nigeria must not be polluted with violence, thereby reinvoking calculated at­tacks, tension and loss of lives and properties.

“We demand a violent, free and peaceful atmosphere in the South­east and other parts of the country. We sue for coordinated National Se­curity operations and a politically senitised Nigeria where people’s lives are protected, valued and tak­en care of and not a volatile and crime- ridden nation where terror­ism and other forms of criminali­ties display its war chest.”

A Lagos lawyer, Barrister Eme­ka Iheonu, said: “The attack and several past attacks and killings in the South East portends a great danger towards 2023 elections in the South East.

“I really do not know if the per­petrators are IPOB members try­ing to dissuade those resident in the South East from voting while Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is still being held by the Federal Government of Nigeria or generally by politi­cians who are sponsoring gunmen for selfish reasons.

“If the attacks and killings con­tinue unabated, people in the South East would be reluctant to fully participate in voting come 2023. This will also negatively affect the Labour Party’s presidential candi­date, Mr. Peter Obi.”

Another commentator, Dr. Kanayo Success Uchime, said, “The attack on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah is highly condemnable. It is unwarranted, no matter the cir­cumstances surrounding it.

“Southeast should not be turned into a theatre of war. We have had enough of that. Virtually every state in Southeast has one securi­ty issue or the other, and this is not healthy considering that the 2023 electioneering campaign is just about to commence.

“We need absolute peace in Southeast. That is where we are going. Anything short of that will definitely be detrimental to the forthcoming general elections.”

Also, Dr. Rexkennedy Saltlove, President/Executive Director, Citi­zens Rights and Empowerment Ad­vocacy Initiative (CREMA Initia­tive), said the recent attack on Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah should give concern to all peace loving Nigeria.

According to him, “The failure of APC government to guarantee security of lives and properties un­der the Incompetent Buhari’s APC administration is worrisome, as it gives wicked and evil politicians blanket cover for nefarious and sinister operations.(Sunday Independent:Text, excluding headline)