When armed youths are allegedly drilled in a township hall, and the response from the people in charge is silence, that silence is itself a scandal.
The claims from Ankpa are unverified. But they are specific: recruits reportedly bused in from Enugu, arms handling and attack tactics, a private farm said to host more of the same. A viral video has been circulating. A respected elder has put his name to the alarm. And the Local Government Chairman cannot be reached. No police statement. No denial. No explanation.
That is not how a responsible authority behaves. A clean conscience answers quickly. Evasion, whether deliberate or lazy, invites the worst assumptions.
Nigerians know this script. Thugs are recruited, politicians look away, and the violence is later blamed on “unknown persons.” The pattern is old, and the people who pay for it are always ordinary voters, traders and farmers, never the sponsors.
So the demands are simple. Police and the DSS should investigate now and publish their findings. The Attorney-General should say whether any law is being broken. The Chairman should explain what the hall is used for and who has access to it. Every party and candidate in the area should state publicly, on the record, that they have no link to any armed group. Refusal to do so should itself be noted.
None of this requires assuming guilt. It requires only that officials do their jobs before the damage is done. Allegations are not proof, and no one has been named. But public safety does not wait for certainty, and neither should accountability.
If this turns out to be exaggerated, an open inquiry will say so and the matter ends. If it is true, then every day of silence is a day closer to bloodshed that everyone saw coming.
Do not wait for bodies. Investigate now.
