A former member of Abia State House of Assembly, Honourable Obinna Ichita has applauded President Bola Tinubu for establishing national forest guards across the country.
The former lawmaker, said Tinubu had further demonstrated a genuine interest in swiftly addressing the challenges and complaints in the South East and other parts of the country.
Recall that President Tinubu during the last Federal Executive Council meeting, approved the establishment of a national forest guard system to secure the country’s 1,129 forest reserves.
Ichita, who was a deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in the 2023 general elections, said that the approval which includes a mandate from each state to recruit between 2,000 and 5,000 forest guards based on their capacity is one move that he feels will go a long way in securing the forest following recent bitter experiences.
He lamented the recent gruesome killing of one of his staff by kidnappers along Owerri-Onitsha Highway, a situation he believes the coming of forest guard will help in curbing and restore security in local communities.
Ichita added that he is hopeful that the coming of the forest guard will prevent further loss of life and thus, flush out those foreign elements and their local collaborators, who hide in forests across the country to kidnap and kill innocent people.
“The body of Mr. Chibuzor Nkoro, an indigene of Eziama, in Aba North LGA of Abia state, who until his death, was one of my staff members, is in a mortuary in Aba, Abia State.
“Chibuzor was shot dead along Ngor Okpala in Imo state on Tuesday 6th May, 2025 while driving back to Aba from Imo state. Those who killed Chibuzor also abducted one of my family members and demanded for ransom.
“This violent attack was not an isolated incident. In fact,in one instance, one of the kidnapped victims paid a ransom of one billion naira. Yes, one billion Naira.
“By approving the establishment of Armed Forest guard, the President has further demonstrated a genuine interest in swiftly addressing our challenges and complaints in the South East and elsewhere.
“It is my hope and prayer that this intervention by Mr. President and subsequent engagement and coordination with the state governments, will prevent further loss of life and thus, flush out those foreign elements and their local collaborators, who hide in our forests to kidnap and kill our people,” he said.
The ex-lawmaker said that to secure the buy-in of the local communities, a robust information dissemination campaign must be activated as most people, especially in the South-East, have strong reservations and have developed some level of apathy towards joining various security agencies in the federation.