By Ed Malik, A/ Posted June 16, 2022 1.40 PM

The 1001Plus group, a Non–governmental Organization for Social, Political and economic group aggregating Voices for Empowerment of People has called on the federal government to take its constitutional role of securing lives and property of the citizens seriously and embrace the strident calls for the establishment of State Police in Nigeria.

The group stated in a Press Statement that the benefits of having policing at States’ level far outweighs the argument against it, especially in the light of current security disorientation nationwide.

In the signed statement to media houses signed by its Executive Secretary, Mr. Uwem-Obong Ankak, titled: ‘Owo Killings: One Attack Too Many’, he stated that the call became necessary in order to increase the security presence in the vulnerable areas of every State, noting that the indigenes have more knowledge of likely routes of invasion and escape when bandits strike.

The Group opined that the indices of a failed nation are glaring for anyone who cares to observe and this calls for timely action to push back on the growing menace of brazen attacks in such unheard-of places like worship centres.

The Statement lamented that, “the Owo bombing is surely a metaphor for a failed nation, a country which life and security of its citizens have become so cheap, short and brutish. It defeats the very essence of government which fundamental responsibility is the protection of life and property of its citizens, otherwise there wouldn’t be any need for the citizens to surrender their sovereignty to the government.

The Group Executive Secretary explained that “1001+ Voices Initiative for People Empowerment, is a good governance advocacy organization that has continued to champion causes that impact on the ordinary citizens and thought that attacking worship places where people of all classes congregate to seek divine intervention in the affairs of man, is a worrisome trend that must stop.

“We deplore the senselessness of these attacks and warn that the seeming spread of these attacks to southern cities in Nigeria will be catastrophic for the country. Most important, we want the government to track the perpetrators of the Owo bombing, arrest them and bring all of them to justice”, the Statement read.

The group said, with the incessant attacks and the inability of the current security architecture to address the matter deftly, it seems advisable now, for the government to embrace new tactics and community policing platforms.