By Malachy Agbo
From technology-driven surveillance and rapid-response operations to forest safety and intelligence-led policing, the governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah-led administration has made safety one of many central pillars of its improvement agenda. As the 2027 elections strategy, the problem is to guard these positive factors, set up the details behind rising controversies, and make sure that political competitors doesn’t come on the expense of public security.
The former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Aremu Olusegun Osoba, provided an illuminating account of the safety scenario in Enugu State when he addressed individuals on the not too long ago concluded Nigeria Guild of Editors Conference in Enugu. He recounted how he had assured his spouse that these liable for abducting a Catholic seminarian and different worshippers at a church in Affa, Udi Local Government Area, could be apprehended. According to his account, he was subsequently happy to study that the suspects had been arrested.
The significance of that account goes past the apprehension of suspects. It highlights the significance of a safety system able to gathering intelligence, mobilising personnel, pursuing legal networks and bringing suspected perpetrators earlier than the legislation. It additionally underscores a elementary accountability of presidency: to make sure that legal components can’t function with impunity or dictate the phrases on which residents stay, worship, work and conduct their companies.
The Affa incident was undoubtedly distressing. On August 2, 2026, gunmen kidnapped three folks, together with a seminarian, throughout a church service at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Inoyi, Affa neighborhood. Subsequent reviews by the police and different media organisations documented arrests linked to the incident, the restoration of firearms and the eventual launch of the remaining victims. These developments show the significance of coordinated safety operations, though the preliminary assault additionally serves as a reminder that the specter of kidnapping has not been fully eradicated.
For Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, the incident reinforces a precept that has outlined his administration since its inception: safety will not be an non-obligatory element of governance – it’s the basis upon which financial progress, infrastructure improvement, training, healthcare, tourism and public confidence should relaxation.
When Mbah assumed workplace in May 2023, the South-East was grappling with the disruptive results of the Monday sit-at-home order imposed by non-state actors. Enugu, as a serious business and administrative centre within the area, skilled the financial and social penalties of restrictions that discouraged merchants from opening their outlets, employees from reporting to their workplaces, youngsters from going to highschool and residents from transferring freely.
Beyond the direct financial losses, the local weather of concern affected transport operators, small-business house owners, college students, civil servants and households whose every day routines trusted the liberty to maneuver round with out intimidation.
The sit-at-home phenomenon additionally imposed much less seen prices. Business house owners confronted uncertainty, employees misplaced productive hours, and buyers needed to think about whether or not their operations may perform reliably in an surroundings the place motion may be disrupted at very brief discover. The most ignoble side of it’s that many of the disruptive orders got here from faceless voice notes.
The Mbah administration moved to finish the obligatory Monday sit-at-home and different related orders in Enugu State and restore regular financial exercise. The coverage route was clear: no particular person or group outdoors the constitutional order ought to possess the ability to find out whether or not lawful companies open or whether or not residents can go about their reputable actions.
This was not merely a query of reopening outlets on Mondays. It was a query of restoring public authority, defending livelihoods and defending the appropriate of residents to take part in financial and social life with out coercion.
The administration additionally pursued measures aimed toward eradicating unauthorised barricades and enhancing motion throughout the state, alongside efforts to strengthen safety coordination and cut back the disruptions related to extreme or poorly coordinated checkpoints.
These measures should in the end be assessed by their sensible results: whether or not commuters can journey safely, merchants can function constantly, employees can attain their locations and households can go about their every day lives with out undue concern.
The goal ought to stay clear and measurable: public areas should belong to the folks, to not legal teams or people in search of to impose their will by violence.
One of essentially the most vital elements of the Mbah administration’s safety technique is its emphasis on expertise, surveillance, fast response and inter-agency coordination.
Rather than relying completely on standard patrols and reactive policing, the federal government has invested in infrastructure supposed to enhance the detection of threats, shorten response instances and strengthen the capability of safety companies to coordinate their operations.
At the centre of this strategy is the Enugu State Command and Control Centre, formally inaugurated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on January 4, 2025. The facility integrates surveillance and communication capabilities to help safety operations throughout the state.
In July 2026, the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, counseled the centre and the accompanying Distress Response Squad after visiting the ability. The squad operated greater than 150 model new safety automobiles outfitted with synthetic intelligence-enabled cameras and linked to the Command Centre. The Inspector-General additionally praised the squad’s capacity to reply quickly when directed to an incident location.
In safety operations, minutes could make a decisive distinction. A well timed response might stop an assault from escalating, facilitate the rescue of an kidnapped particular person or allow officers to intercept suspects earlier than they escape.
The administration has additionally invested in tools supposed to enhance personnel safety and operational mobility. In December 2025, the Enugu State Security Trust Fund inaugurated two drones, 10 four-wheel-drive Hilux automobiles, 40 bikes, 400 bulletproof vests and 400 bulletproof helmets for safety operations. These objects have been procured to enrich present surveillance infrastructure and the DRS fleet.
These investments show the breadth of the federal government’s acknowledged strategy: surveillance, mobility, tools and inter-agency cooperation are being handled as complementary components of a safety system relatively than remoted initiatives.
Indeed, some might ask: why motorbikes? The safety problem in Enugu will not be confined to city centres. Forests, rural roads and comparatively remoted communities can present cowl for legal teams, notably the place tough terrain limits routine patrols and makes fast intervention extra sophisticated.
Strengthening the Enugu State Forest Guards is due to this fact an necessary aspect of a complete safety technique.
The effectiveness of forest safety depends upon a mixture of native intelligence, data of the terrain, acceptable tools, skilled coaching and coordination with the police, army and different authorised companies.
By strengthening the institutional framework for the Forest Guards and supporting joint operations, the administration has taken concrete steps to enhance safety protection past the key cities.
The arrests related to the Affa church abduction illustrate the significance of such collaboration. A joint operation involving the Department of State Services, the Nigerian Army, police, forest guards and different personnel led to arrests linked to the incident and the restoration of 4 AK-47 rifles, seven magazines and 133 rounds of ammunition.
On August 14, the Enugu State Police Command additionally introduced the arrest of 14 suspected members of a kidnapping syndicate allegedly concerned in operations in Enugu and different states, together with suspects linked to the Affa incident. The state’s technology-led safety technique has helped cut back violent crime by greater than 80 per cent.
As the 2027 basic elections strategy, the political ambiance will inevitably develop into extra tense and aggressive. Governments will proceed to clarify, defend their data and safe a second time period. Opposition events will problem the federal government and persuade voters that their programmes provide a greater future. That is a reputable characteristic of democracy. This is what we want to get from the opposition political events and never unfounded allegations and misinformation.
Political competitors turns into harmful when violence, intimidation, deliberate misinformation or unsubstantiated allegations are used to affect public notion. No political celebration ought to search votes by deceit and manipulation.
The Enugu State authorities has not too long ago raised issues about incidents involving the Nigeria Democratic Congress, together with a confrontation at Akanu Ibiam International Airport and a taking pictures incident on the celebration’s state secretariat in Enugu.
According to the Secretary to the State Government Professor Chidiebere Onyia, the airport confrontation arose after the celebration allegedly tried to organise a marketing campaign occasion on the facility with out acquiring the mandatory approval from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria. He mentioned safety companies had suggested the organisers to rethink the occasion and that the following confrontation required intervention to revive order.
The authorities additionally provided necessary clarifications in regards to the taking pictures on the celebration’s secretariat, saying that the police have been investigating the incident. A person, recognized as Ifeanyi Nworie, had sustained a gunshot wound and was taken to hospital for therapy. Sadly, he would later succumb to the harm. He additionally denied allegations that Governor Mbah’s Chief Security Officer was current on the secretariat throughout the taking pictures.
The police ought to conduct an intensive, neutral and clear investigation, set up the sequence of occasions, establish these liable for any offences and prosecute circumstances supported by admissible proof.
The authorities has a reputable accountability to guard public order and safe vital infrastructure. Political events, in flip, have a accountability to adjust to relevant legal guidelines, receive required permits and make sure that their actions stay peaceable. Where disputes come up, they need to be resolved by lawful procedures relatively than confrontation.
The Governor Mbah administration has since accession demonstrated constancy to his oath of workplace, which incorporates respect of the appropriate to peaceable meeting and political participation.
One of the best dangers in an electoral surroundings is the temptation to attribute each violent incident to authorities – even when proof suggests in any other case.
An instance was an incident at Obuofia in Nkanu West Local Government Area on September 12, 2026, whereby an opposition celebration alleged that the federal government was the masterminded of the violence. But an investigation by the police proves in any other case. Investigations revealed that the alleged perpetrators have been truly members of the opposition celebration.
Enugu wants a public dialog by which details are established, wrongdoing is punished and harmless individuals are not condemned due to their political affiliations.
Governor Mbah has acknowledged that his administration’s ambition to construct a bigger and extra aggressive financial system depends upon sustained peace and safety. The authorities welcomes peaceable political debate and affiliation whereas rejecting politically-induced violence.
Mbah’s authorities could be very assured in its insurance policies and is ready to clarify its selections, publish related efficiency knowledge – because it did not too long ago – and reply reputable questions from residents, journalists, civil-society organisations and political opponents.
Opposition events, on their half, ought to have the ability to marketing campaign, organise lawful conferences, criticise authorities insurance policies constructively and current various programmes with out hoodwinking. Their allegations must be evidence-based.
The electoral course of should stay the constitutional means by which residents select their leaders. No celebration ought to try to receive by violence what it ought to search by persuasion and lawful democratic participation.
The proper of Ndi Enugu to vote freely, organise peacefully and make knowledgeable selections is inseparable from the state’s broader dedication to public security. Like Mbah mentioned not too long ago, “I understand how a lot our folks worth the peace and safety we’ve labored so exhausting to determine in Enugu. Incidents comparable to these trigger anxiousness and deserve our full consideration. Every citizen, no matter their political affiliation, should have the ability to train their political rights with out concern or violence.
The Enugu State Government has made its place clear concerning allegations of involvement on this violence. Our elementary accountability as a authorities is to guard lives, uphold the legislation, and make sure that justice is pursued with out favour.”
The above assurance caps all of it. Indeed, Tomorrow is right here!
•Dr. Agbo is Enugu State Commissioner for Information.
