Ughelli Holds Security Summit, Tasks Vigilantes On Professionalism

Afimag.com –

The Ughelli Descendants Union, UDU, under the leadership of Chief Samuel Akpimegi, recently, held a security summit with a view to bridging the security gap in the area.

The summit became paramount following the series of reported cases of kidnapping, killings, stealing, and other security threats in the locality.

The summit, tagged, “State of Security in Ughelli Kingdom: A Call to Duty”, was therefore organized to beef up security in Ughelli and its environ.

A eight-man coordinating committee of members of the local vigilante of the kingdom headed by the commandant of Vigilante Group of Nigeria Delta State chapter, Comrade Monday Ohwesiri, Akpimegi was also constituted.

In his opening speech, the President General of Ughelli Descendant Union, Chief Samuel Akpimegi, emphasized the importance of security of lives and properties, saying that no community will thrive with security challenges.

He said, “My dear people, nobody here needs to be reminded of the far-reaching strategic importance of security. Let me preface this by saying that every citizenry of Ughelli kingdom is entitled to adequate security from the leadership of UDU and government for their lives and livelihoods, UDU and government may slip into that responsibility often in the past but I must say never deliberately.

“But to successfully fight insecurity in our kingdom, local government area, and the state as a whole we need all hands to be desk to match our ambition. This very important security summit is an important part of the ongoing engagements with stakeholders on the security concerns of our kingdom.

“The Summit is important because it will take into account the several security challenges our communities have faced over the years and currently still facing.

“I think the most important commitment that we here can all make at the end of this summit is to know that the security of lives and properties is paramount and is every man’s business.

While emphasizing on the need to collaborate with the neighbouring  communities to mitigate crimes, the UDU President added that, “Securing Ughelli kingdom and its immediate neighbouring communities and its populations requires far more men and materials than we have at the moment. It also requires a continual re-engineering of our security architecture and strategies. This has to be a dynamic process.

“We must intensify existing collaboration with our neighbors in the neighboring communities/kingdoms, especially border communities to prevent the movement of small arms and disarm armed pastoralists and bandits who go through our borders day after day.”