ENUGU — Thousands of residents and young people flooded the streets of Enugu on Friday in a powerful show of solidarity with the state government’s crackdown on insecurity, declaring their unwavering opposition to terrorism, cultism and criminality.
The mass movement, which saw undergraduates and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members marching through the state capital’s busiest thoroughfares, culminated at the Government House, where Governor Dr. Peter Mbah received the demonstrators and their declaration of support.
The youth coalition pledged to mobilise their peers across all 17 local government areas against criminal activities and violent extremism, vowing to take ownership of the campaign for safer communities.
Addressing the gathering, Governor Mbah revealed that security had been identified as a critical risk factor during his administration’s developmental planning, prompting his decisive action against the menace from day one.
“Your decision to march through the streets and end here preaching the message against crime and terrorism is profound,” the governor told the assembled youths. “Ordinarily, we should be the ones preaching to you against such vices. But by this act, you are telling us that you are not going to be on the fringes or stand by and watch. Rather, you are going to be at the forefront of the campaign against cultism, crime and terrorism.”
He commended the young people for taking the initiative to bolster both the federal government’s anti-crime efforts under President Bola Tinubu and the state’s own security agenda, stressing that his administration’s “Tomorrow Is Here” mantra represented a genuine commitment to investing in the next generation.
The governor argued that greater youth involvement in the fight against criminality would yield significant dividends, freeing up public resources currently consumed by security operations for job creation and poverty eradication.
Drawing on international examples, Mbah noted that several countries had been able to close correctional facilities after achieving substantial crime reductions, suggesting that similar transformation was achievable in Nigeria when young people took ownership of the campaign against criminality.
He reiterated his government’s zero-tolerance stance towards crime, emphasising that a safer Enugu would attract greater investment and generate positive multiplier effects for the economy. The governor urged the youths to extend their campaign to every corner of the state, insisting their initiative would send an unequivocal message that criminality was no longer acceptable among young Nigerians.
“Your campaign is heartwarming. When citizens apply scholarly and constructive approaches, government will be glad to engage them constructively and productively too,” Mbah added.
The governor also outlined his administration’s complementary non-kinetic interventions, including job creation schemes, increased investment in education and digital skills development programmes designed to address the root causes of criminal behaviour.
Earlier, Dr Emeka Ejim, Deputy Rector of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, who led the march, described the coalition as a broad-based youth movement comprising corps members and students united by a common agenda against crime, cultism and terrorism.
Ejim pledged the group’s full support for the state government’s security efforts, praising Enugu’s distinguished record in combating crime through a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic measures, including skills acquisition and job creation initiatives.
“We pledge never to join bad groups within and outside Nigeria. We are joining you against terrorism,” he declared.
The Enugu State leader of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Okeke Kelvin, announced that the association would mobilise no fewer than two million young people to support the campaign against violence and terror.
“This is the only way we can show you that we are against terror. We say no to terrorism,” Kelvin said.
The student leader commended the state government for its significant investment in modern security infrastructure, highlighting the establishment of the Command and Control Centre, the Centre for DNA Forensics and Criminal Investigation, and the Distress Response Squad (DRS), which he said were already yielding tangible results.
“For instance, they tried you at Affa in Udi, and in no time the kidnappers realised they cannot ply their trade in Enugu State,” he noted.
NYSC corps members Olaranju Oreose and Emmanuela Momoh expressed their gratitude to Governor Mbah for the peace and security they enjoy in Enugu, revealing that their experience in the state had completely transformed their perceptions and allayed the fears they initially harboured when posted to the South East region.
“I am Olaranju, representing the General CDS President. Sir, as a corps member from the South West, and I have been in Enugu from January till now, I want to say that my journey and experience so far here has been wonderful in terms of security,” she said.
“Initially, I had the fear of coming this far distance to Enugu. But having been here, I have changed that thinking. I want to let you know that no one amongst us here, no matter the tribe, no matter the religion, is supporting terrorism.”
The march represents a significant development in the state’s ongoing security efforts, demonstrating growing public ownership of the campaign against criminality and signalling a new chapter in community-police relations in the region.
