The Traditional Ruler of Ukwulu Ancient Kingdom in Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State, Igwe Peter Anaukwu Uyanwa, has commissioned a security watch tower built by the community’s town union as part of efforts to arrest insecurity in the community.
The monarch inaugurated the security watch tower over the weekend as part of activities to mark his 2024 New Yam Festival in the community.
The New Yam Festival stands out as one of the most significant traditional rites in the Igbo calendar. It is when communities, families, and age groups come together to celebrate the first harvest of the year and honor divinity for its bounties.
Performing the function at the boundary of Ukwulu and Umudioka Awkuzu, Igwe Uyanwa said the community project was part of initiatives taken by the community’s leadership to tackle insecurity challenges and social vices and protect the community.
Uyanwa commended Governor Chukwuma Soludo and the security agencies in the state for doing their best in so many ways to entrench a lasting security network in the state.
Regretting that there are many saboteurs who do not see anything good in the present government in the state, the monarch said such miscreants were the ones fomenting trouble with a view to painting the state black by fabricating all sorts of unfounded stories against the state.
Igwe Uyanwa, who was once the Chairman of the Traditional Rulers Council, Anambra Central, observed that the majority of the people who were fomenting trouble in the state were not from Anambra state, pointing out that eighty percent of the miscreants arrested recently by the security agents in the state were from neighboring states.
“Traditional rulers in the various communities are trying to partner with the government in the fight against insecurity because, as grassroots leaders, they know the good and bad people resident in their areas.
“For us in Ukwulu, we would soon start the ‘operation know your tenants and neighbours’. The idea is to ensure that everyone living in Ukwulu has an identity in the event of a crime.
“If a landlord in the community claims that he does not know his tenant and such tenant is eventually arrested for criminal activities, they would equally arrest the landlord for harbouring a criminal in the community,” he said.
While praying for peaceful coexistence in the Ukwulu community, Anambra State, and Nigeria in general, Igwe Uyanwa advised Nigerians to exercise patience with the nation’s leaders, assuring that the country would be better again in no distant time.
In a remark, the President-General of Ukwulu Town Union, Chief Christopher Inyiofo, said they built the security watch towers at the community’s strategic places to support Governor Soludo’s security project in the state and beef up the security of lives and property in the community.
One of the illustrious sons of the community and a one-time Vice-Chancellor, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, Professor Fidelis Okafor, said the event is all about thanksgiving to God by the people for making their crops grow, multiply and the opportunity offered them to reap from the fruits of the earth.
Earlier, in a homily during an interdenominational service that preceded the new yam festival proper, held at the Igwe’s Palace, Reverend Father Patrick Bosah of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam Campus advised the people to always adore God in all circumstances, pointing out that there is complete prayer in adoration and thanksgiving.
The event featured cutting and eating Igwe Uyanwa’s roasted new yam, paying homage, and performing culturally with various troupes.
