With the rising security challenges of violent attacks by armed herdsmen alongside kidnappings for ransom as well as violent crime, the Delta Online Publishers Forum (DOPF) has urged the Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, to assent and implement the Delta State Community Security Corps Agency Law, 2025, which scaled through third reading in the State House of Assembly since July 22, 2025.
In a letter addressed to the State Governor and signed by the group’s Chairman, Emmanuel Enebeli, and Secretary, Shedrack Onitsha, the group laments the delay in assenting to the bill after its passage several months ago.
Part of the letter reads, “We write to you with a deep sense of responsibility and patriotic concern over the growing security concern in Delta State, particularly the persistent attacks on farmers by armed herdsmen, cases of kidnapping for ransom, and other violent crimes that now threaten livelihoods, food security, and public confidence in governance.
“It is in this context that we respectfully urge Your Excellency to sign into law the Delta State Community Security Corps Agency Law, 2025, a critical security legislation passed by the Delta State House of Assembly on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, after due legislative process and third reading.
The bill sponsored by Hon. (Dr.) Isaac Anwuzia, Chairman of the House Committee on Peace and Security, repeals the 2020 version and was deliberately crafted to provide a more robust, structured, and legally grounded framework for community-based policing and grassroots security across the state.
It added that; “The intention of the House was clear: to strengthen Delta State’s security architecture by establishing a formal Community Security Corps Agency that can complement conventional security agencies, like the Amotekun in the South-West, improve intelligence gathering, and respond swiftly to local security threats that federal forces alone are overstretched to handle”.
DOPF in the letter frowned at the delay in signing the bill into law after months of its passage by the State Governor, but commended the governor for assenting to the Delta State Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Cultism Amendment Law, 2025, urging him to be proactive to the challenging security issue.
“While we commend Your Excellency for assenting to the Delta State Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Cultism (Amendment) Law, 2025, and launching Delta State Security Trust Fund, we are constrained to express concern that the Delta State Community Security Corps Agency Law, which provides the operational backbone for effective grassroots security enforcement, has remained unsigned several months after passage.
“This delay raises troubling questions, especially when viewed against the fate of the Delta State Anti-Open Grazing Law, which, despite being enacted in the last dispensation, has largely remained dormant, even as Deltans continue to suffer violent attacks on their farms by marauding herdsmen. Laws without enforcement structures become symbolic documents, not instruments of protection.
“The current security climate makes the need for this law even more urgent. With reports of terrorist elements being displaced from the North-East following recent international military operations, there is growing fear that criminal networks may seek refuge in relatively softer regions, including parts of the Niger Delta.”
While appealing to the governor noted that signing the Delta State Community Security Corps Agency Law into force should as well go hand in hand with the immediate establishment of clear structures for its implementation, including recruitment guidelines, training standards, funding mechanisms, oversight frameworks, and coordination protocols with existing security agencies.
In their words, “We strongly believe that assenting to this law and activating its provisions will send a powerful message that your administration is proactive, people-centered, and determined to protect lives, investments, farmlands, and communities, rather than reacting after irreparable damage has been done.”