Killing of US Embassy staff: Metchie urges govt to engage hunters

Chief John Chukwudi Metchie, Deputy Commander General (Technical Services) of the Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service (NHFSS) has urged both the Anambra State and the federal governments to work with hunters to bring to book the perpetrators of the attack on some officials of the United States Embassy in Nigeria.

DAILY POST recalls that some officials of the embassy, who were on medical outreach to Amiyi/Eke Ochuche communities in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, were killed and their bodies set ablaze.

Those killed were four in number, including two police officers.

Lamenting the development in a statement he signed on Wednesday, Metchie said: “The Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service (NHFSS) is pained over the news of Tuesday’s dastardly attack on some officials of the United States Embassy in Nigeria who were on medical outreach to Amiyi/Eke Ochuche communities in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, in which four people were killed and their bodies burnt, including two police officers.

“We also condemn the reported mindless and gruesome killing of about 30 persons in Bwoi District of Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau. Regrettably, Plateau, which in the past, was arguably the most peaceful state in Nigeria, has become a killing field in the past few years.”

He urged federal and state governments to fully recognise the huge contributions of the Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service in curbing insecurity in the country, stating that “many of the states that have activated full collaboration between officers and men of the service and other security agencies, are reaping the benefits in terms of information and intelligence gathering as well as apprehending criminal elements.”

“On behalf of the Commander General of the NHFSS, Dr Joshua Wole Osatimehin, let me also use this opportunity to once again urge the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, to, as a matter of national importance, give presidential assent to the Nigerian Hunters and Forestry Security Service Bill, which has been passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.

“Knowing that the primary responsibility of the NHFSS is to curb crimes and criminalities in Nigerian forests, the President’s assent to the bill would empower officers and men of the NHFSS and further motivate them to occupy strategic positions in the forests and farms, and that way, make it difficult for those using the forests to carry out nefarious activities against the state and people of Nigeria,” he said.

According to him, aside from curbing banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, and other anti-people activities, signing the bill into law would enable government to recruit thousands of young men and women as hunters, which would help to solve the issue of acute unemployment, one of the most serious challenges facing the nation.

“We need to reiterate, therefore, that one of the greatest legacies Mr President would leave behind as the Father of the Nation is to sign the NHFSS Bill into law to boost the fight against insecurity and provide massive employment for citizens, especially young men and women, which in itself, is another way of reducing crimes and criminalities,” Metchie concluded.

Killing of US Embassy staff: Metchie urges govt to engage hunters