By Tope Kolawole
The Ebonyi Community (EBOCOM) Abuja Chapter has declared solid solidarity with Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru and Commissioner of Police Hope Urunwa Okafor, while rejecting what it described as a sponsored campaign of blackmail aimed at hijacking the peace and progress of Ebonyi State.
The group said the recent orchestrated protests and coordinated attacks on the administration are the work of sponsored criminal elements, external agitators and local collaborators who cannot tolerate a state steadily advancing while others remain trapped in violence and underdevelopment.
A statement jointly signed by Chief Idenyi Chinedu Edward and Comrade Elem Okoh, its President-General and Secretary said; “We stand with His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State.
“We also stand with the Commissioner of Police, CP Hope Urunwa Okafor, and with every officer and man of the Nigeria Police Force who has worked tirelessly under the governor’s peace agenda to keep our state from sliding into the chaos that has engulfed other parts of this country.
“What we have witnessed in recent days — the orchestrated protests, the coordinated blackmail, the deliberate attempt to paint a performing administration as a threat to democracy — is nothing less than a calculated, sponsored effort to hijack the peace and progress of Ebonyi State.”
EBOCOM specifically named one Charles Otu as being at the centre of the campaign of calumny, accusing him of conspiring with external forces to sow discord, amplify shortcomings while ignoring tangible transformation, and internationalise local political disagreements in ways that undermine public peace.
The group revealed that it has formally petitioned the Inspector-General of Police over the activities of those it described as external collaborators and their local agents, warning that the state’s security architecture has taken note of such collaborations and that those whose actions threaten peace will face the law.
It argued that the protests stem from the success of the governor’s peace agenda and the professional, intelligence-driven and community-rooted policing under CP Okafor, which has brought measurable improvements in previously volatile areas.
“At the centre of this campaign of calumny is Charles Otu, who has chosen to conspire with elements from outside the state to sow discord and undermine the progress of Ebonyi,” the statement added.
“This individual has specialised in amplifying every real or imagined shortcoming while systematically ignoring the tangible transformation taking place under Governor Nwifuru.
“We state without ambiguity: Charles Otu has elected to work with external forces to cause mayhem and destabilise the state. His pattern of inflammatory statements, his attempts to internationalise local political disagreements, and his role in fanning the embers of unrest have placed him firmly in the category of those whose activities undermine public peace.”
The community group pointed to security gains in places such as Amankwo, Effiom (Effium axis) and other flashpoints, attributing them to the governor’s insistence on dialogue, demarcation where necessary, empowerment of traditional institutions and zero tolerance for violence.
It contrasted Ebonyi’s relative stability with the tragic situations in parts of Benue, Kogi, Borno and elsewhere, insisting that the refusal to follow a path of endless conflict is what angers the “merchants of crisis.”
EBOCOM also defended the governor’s recent remarks while inaugurating newly elected local government chairmen, describing them as firm motivational charges rather than threats to democracy, and accusing critics of twisting a coach’s pre-match talk into bad-faith allegations.
“They protest because the governor’s peace agenda is working. They protest because the Commissioner of Police and the command under her have, through professional, intelligence-driven and community-rooted policing, restored relative calm in areas that once lived under the shadow of communal bloodletting,” the statement said.
“Let us be clear and emphatic: those remarks were not threats. They were the words of a coach charging his team. Every serious leader who wants results speaks with firmness.
“Governor Nwifuru looked the chairmen in the eye and told them the truth — that their primary duty is to deliver good governance at the grassroots and to ensure that the dividends of democracy are felt in every ward.”
The group listed a series of verifiable achievements under the People’s Charter of Needs, including over 295 kilometres of roads constructed or rehabilitated across urban dual carriageways, rural links and community access roads, with landmark projects such as the Vanco Junction interventions, Ogbaga/Nwofe corridor and Ezillo–Ezzaegu axis already delivering improved mobility and economic opportunities.
It further highlighted two specialised universities under development (University of ICT at Oferekpe/Agbaja and University of Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering), dozens of model secondary schools under construction, recruitment of more than 2,000 teachers, over 1,000 postgraduate scholarships (local and overseas), and increased subventions to Ebonyi State University.
Healthcare improvements cited include the rehabilitation and equipping of all 13 general hospitals with modern diagnostic tools including MRI and CT capabilities, revitalisation of primary healthcare centres, recruitment of medical personnel, provision of ambulances and expansion of free maternal and child health services under the state health insurance scheme.
“Under the People’s Charter of Needs, infrastructure has received unprecedented attention. Hundreds of kilometres of roads — urban dual carriageways, rural link roads and community access roads — have been constructed or rehabilitated.
“Landmark projects such as the Vanco Junction interventions, the Ogbaga/Nwofe corridor, the Ezillo–Ezzaegu axis and numerous internal city roads have improved mobility and opened up economic opportunities.
“Over 295 kilometres of durable roads have already been delivered in a relatively short period, with hundreds more under active construction across all thirteen local government areas,” the statement noted.
“In education, two specialised universities — the University of ICT at Oferekpe/Agbaja and the University of Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering — are concrete realities in progress, positioning Ebonyi for the knowledge and technology economy of the future.
“Model secondary schools numbering in the thirties and forties are under construction across the local governments. More than two thousand teachers have been recruited. Over one thousand postgraduate scholarships — local and overseas — have been awarded.”
Additional gains listed include revival of the massive Oferekpe Water Scheme and reactivation of the Ezillo and Old Abakaliki schemes with extended reticulation; substantial clearance of gratuity and pension backlogs; empowerment programmes for youths, women and small entrepreneurs; agricultural support through fertiliser, equipment and hatchery revitalisation; and resolution of dozens of traditional stool and communal disputes alongside the creation of additional autonomous communities and housing interventions for the displaced.
EBOCOM insisted these are not slogans but projects that can be visited, scholarships that can be verified, roads that can be driven on and hospitals that can be walked into, arguing that the opposition and external collaborators know this and therefore prefer noise to substance.
“These are not slogans. They are projects you can visit, scholarships you can verify, roads you can drive on, and hospitals you can walk into. The opposition and their external collaborators know this.
“That is why they prefer noise to substance. Their tactic of elevating collaborators and manufacturing outrage has failed. The people of Ebonyi can see the difference between those who build and those who only tear down,” the group stated.
“The governor has worked. The Commissioner of Police and the command under her have held the line on security. The peace agenda is not a slogan; it is a lived policy that has kept our communities from descending into the abyss.”
The group called on every patriotic Ebonyian — youths, women, traditional rulers, market leaders, professionals and ordinary citizens — to reject the merchants of discord, defend the hard-won peace, support protective institutions and demand even greater delivery of projects that improve daily life.
It warned that the future of the state will not be written by those who collaborate with external forces to set it on fire, but by those who stay to build it.
