The new Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 9 Umuahia, Mr. Hosea Karma, today said that he would evolve effective strategy to find a lasting solution to the frequent clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

Zone 9 comprising Enugu, Anambra, Abia and Imo states have continued to witness clashes involving herdsmen and host communities, resulting in loss of lives and destruction of farm crops and properties.

But in his maiden press conference held at the Zonal headquarters in Umuahia, Karma said that a solution to the nagging problem was in sight. Describing the herdsmen menace as “a national issue.”

The Zone 9 AIG said that he would set up a committee that would mediate between herdsmen and farmers and take proactive action to nip any problem in the bud.

He said that this strategy proved effective while he was the Police Commissioner in Anambra state hence he was prepared to adopt it in other states within zone 9.

Karma also said that he would effectively use the platform of the Eminent Peoples Forum (EPF) to ensure the peaceful existence between herdsmen and the host communities. The EPF, which was initiated by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has already been inaugurated in Imo and Abia with the Zone 9 AIG saying that Enugu and Anambra would follow in due course.

The AIG identified the crime challenge in the zone to revolve around violent crimes of kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism and human trafficking, adding that he would fight these crimes and guarantee security of life and businesses.

“We have the responsibility to curb crime within the zone. We are going to fight these violent crimes to a standstill,” he said.

According to him, curbing criminalities in the zone was not a tall order as he was able to drastically reduce the level of criminalities in Anambra state and there was no reason he would not replicate his achievement in other states within the zone.

He therefore vowed that there would be no hiding place for criminals within Zone 9, adding that the era whereby a suspect commits crime in one state and runs to another to hide was over.

Karma promised that he would ensure that the police personnel in the zone keyed into the vision of IG by policing with integrity and bring the police closer to the people through the inauguration of EPF.

To this end the AIG said that he would strengthen the X- Squad to monitor the activities of police personnel and go after those that engage in extortions.

“We are going to check all these excesses, both the ones on the high ways and the ones in the offices,” he said, adding, “If you are policing with integrity, you will not indulge in doing things that are illegal”.

•File Photo shows AIG Hosea Karma fielding questions from journalists.

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