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.…..Hoodlums converted facility to operational base
….Abducted Station Manager still missing
The National Institute for Horticultural Research (NIHORT) is a federal institute with its headquarter in Ibadan, Oyo state and only two sub-stations in the country – sited at Kano state and Imo state.
Findings by Crimefacts indicate that the NIHORT sub-station in Imo state located at Mbato in Okigwe LGA of Imo state has been shut down due to safety concerns occasioned by the activities of bandits.
NIHORT Mbato, Okigwe which covers the South-East and South-South region of the country had been a target of terror attacks and harassment as the institute is located in close proximity with major security flashpoints in Okigwe, particularly the Aku community that has been a hotbed of banditry in Okigwe, reportedly operated by suspected claimants or members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The air of safety around NIHORT Mbato began to dissipate sometime around January 18, 2023, when the institute was invaded by a small ragtag army of gunmen who even then, appeared to be the governing authority in Mbato and its surrounding communities.
For reasons not known to anyone at the time, the gunmen, without wasting any niceties, sought out the Station Manager of NIHORT, Mbato, Dr. Ugochukwu Onyegbule and whisked him away. It is more than two years now since Dr. Onyegbule was abducted, and nothing has been heard of him in spite of all the efforts made by his family and friends.
From that point, coming to work and going home peacefully increasingly became a risky business among staff members of the institute, with most of the demonstration farms of the institute taken over, harvested and destroyed by the hoodlums.
Crimefacts investigations further indicates that sometime around the first quarter of last year, the gunmen stormed the institute again and this time they came to stay, as they occupied the facility and converted it to their operational base.
In the course of their stay, they thoroughly vandalized the facility and burnt some areas of the institute.
They vandalized the roofs, every scrap of metal, wires, cables and anything that appealed to them. The hoodlums even broke the walls of the building to extract the conduit wirings. They wrecked the institute.
By this time and with the increasing threat to life of the workforce of the institute, authorities at the NIHORT national headquarter directed that all the staff members of NIHORT Mbato be transferred out and redeployed to other facilities.
Lamenting the loss of the institute, a local who is familiar with the institute, Benard Ezeala (not real name) regretted that the Imo state Government watched on the flanks while the institute was overran and eventually lost by Imo state.
He said: “Imo state lost a major asset by allowing that federal facility to be shut down. The state government would have promptly taken steps to secure the facility, its properties and then assist in relocating the institute to a safer location within the state.
“To say the least, the Imo state government failed in its obligations of protecting lives and properties in the state. The state government neither protected the facility in its domain nor the workers, one of who was abducted since 2023. If the state government had been more sensitive to the situation on ground, it would have known that securing and relocating the institute to a safer part of the state would have been in the best interest of Imo people. Apparently, it is possible that they may even be too busy to notice that the institute is sited on Imo soil and possibly also, they may have been unaware that the institute was invaded and occupied by hoodlums. So whatever be the case, Imo and particularly the immediate community of the institute will now have to bear the loss.”
If Imo state must cut its losses to crime and insecurity and possibly redeem itself, it must urgently adopt a more robust, timely and decisive approach to the battle against insecurity.
