Vincent Ujumadu
26 November 2008
Awka — ANAMBRA State government said, yesterday, that there is no security threat in the state, insisting that the recent kidnap of the member of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Joseph Dimobi, was an isolated case which had to do with his past dealings with some people.
Dimobi, represnting Anaocha 11 constituency, was kidnapped and released three days later, after he allegedly paid N5 million ransom. He later told journalists that, with what was happening in the state, nobody, including the governor, is safe because of what he described as lack of adequate security in the state.
But senior special assitant to Governor Peter Obi on inter- party relations, Chief Ben Obi, frowned at the lawmaker's statement, assuring that the state has one of the best security in the country.
"Let me take this oppor-tunity to put the records straight. Mr. Dimobi was simply a victim of business gone awry. He was kidnapped by people he did business with, who said he refused to pay them.
From contacts when the state government waded in to resolve his case, those that kidnapped him made it clear that it was not kidnapping per se, but a way of forcing him to pay the money he was owing them for assisting him to win the last elections."
"This isolated business-inspired kidnapping should not be construed to mean that the state is not secured. The government has adequately empowered the police and other security agencies in the state for security. "
Obi said that even beyond assiting the Police, the state government recently made available N442.5m to all the 177 autonomous communities in the state to enable them provide security in their areas.
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