The recent surge in criminal activities in Anambra State is not only alarming, but also it is becoming unprecedented. That this situation is almost prompting the question as to whether there is indeed someone actually in charge of the state is quite beyond mere exaggeration. Although there exists, if one is not mistaking, an incumbent Executive Governor and Chief Security Officer of the state in the person of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, yet current and burgeoning wave of of killings and sundry other criminal activities in the state would appear to speak otherwise.
Reported and/or unreported, many of these criminal activities in Anambra state seem to be smoothly Perpetrated with impunity, almost always. As it were though, these are crimes that sometimes occur in a series, and at such a magnitude that will often necessitate a condolence visit by the Governor, who characteristically comes to the scene of the tragedy each time, probably inwardly filled with glee, to play the usually anticipated politics of sympathy showing to the loved ones of the victims of such tragedy and to also officiate in the short prayer session for repose of the souls of the departed. There and then, and more often than not, the Governor’s appearance and exit from the scene would appear to often mark the first major official reaction to any such dastardly occurrence as well as the last major official statement to be heard about the very nasty incident in question. Often, with a parting promise to constitute an investigating panel to look into all circumstances surrounding any given terrible occurrence in the state made by the Governor to both the bereaved families of victims and the deased as well as to Ndi Anambra in genera,l Prof. Soludo would characteristically zoom of the scene of any such tragedy like a trailer laden with empty bottle of crates. In some cases, where actual implementation of any such a promise is already set in progress by the Governor, once another much more dastardly incident occurs, the new tragedy subsumes the old ones and almost everything about them. Typically, upon the occurrence of this sort of development, virtually everything about previous tragic incidents tend to quickly go into historical oblivion. In fact, stemming from either a pending promise to cause a detailed inquiry into a certain happening in the state or its actual implementation on course, to the eventual submission of the report of any such investigating panel, all are swiftly thrown into the dust bin of history. And no sooner does this happen than fresh focus moves again to a new tragic occurrence, and this cycle thus continues to run its full course while another tragedy is being awaited for continuity in this most unfortunate order.
Now, come to think of it, if this is not the peculiar pattern and notorious hallmark the Soludo’s solution has been known for in the management of insecurity in Anambra State, how else could it be explained, for instance, that the very gory incident of purported cult clashes that occurred at Nibo in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State since October 20, 2024, where scores of youths died in their prime and over which the Governor launched a detailed investigation into it, has not up till today been concluded and the findings of the investigating panel unravelled to the knowledge of members of the public, especially to Ndi Anambra? Or, is it that Ndi Anambra are not entitled to know or do not deserve to share in the knowledge of the report supposedly submitted by now by the panel set up by Prof. Soludo to look into this fatal incident? Or could there be anything untoward over the findings of the panel that the Soludo-led government is afraid of letting members of the public know? Otherwise, why is it taking donkey’s years for the panel’s report to be thrown into public domain? All these and more are serious questions that boggle the minds of Ndi Anambra.
What is more, it may not be out of place for one to draw a valid inference to the effect that Governor Chukwuma Soludo is seriously frustrated over the deteriorating insecurity in Anambra state. A clear pointer to this, is his latest unwarranted resort to diatribe against those agitating for an independent state of Biafra. Funny enough, though, this is neither the solution nor part of the solution to the lingering security challenges bedeviling Anambra state. Meanwhile, the worst of it all is Prof. Soludo’s widely reported gaffe that the insecurity in the South-Easten region of Nigeria may not end even if Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is freed from his incarceration by the Federal Government of Nigeria. This remark, to say the least, is not only a sad commentary on the warped mindset of the larger Igbo ruling elite about the unjust and continued detention of Mazi Kanu, but also it is a clear reflection of how Nwa Mgbeke has so frivously engaged himself with the demeaning task of chasing a rat while his entire house is enmeshed in blazing inferno. In other words, rather than concentrating on all-important fight against all forms of criminality in Anambra state, Prof Soludo appears to be more inclined to dissipating his time and energy blaming Biafra agitators and Ndi Anambra for the unabated insecurity in the state, some of whom he accused of being sympathetic to the cause of the agitators.
But then, one wonders the extent to which Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s blame game holds water about the activities of Biafra agitators vis-a-vis the rising insecurity in Anambra state. In the first place, it will suffice to observe that the undying clamour for Biafra and its associated activities are not limited to Anambra state. Rather, these are more of South-Easten Nigeria phenomenon which its frenzy radiates mainly across the five states of Igbolad. At least for now, there is no empirical evidence to show that Anambra state is exceptionally affected by the activities of the agitators more than other states within the same region. And it follows that the way Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia and Imo feel the heat of the group’s activities is not fundamentally different from the way Anambra state experiences its modus operandi. Thus, from all indications, this common regional experience does not necessarily transform to unbriddled acts of brigandage capable of breeding and sustaining the high level of insecurity or criminality that pervades almost all nooks and crannies of the state.
Consequently, for Governor Chukwuma Soludo to excuse his gross ineptitude in handling the deteriorating security situation in Anambra state by blaming both Biafra agitators and Ndi Anambra is largely a misdirection of petulance. In fact, for him to squarely accuse people of certain communities in Anambra of harbouring criminals he believes masquerade as Biafra agitators equally amounts to mere expression of frustration. For sure, if this serious accusation by Prof Soludo is anything to go by, the big question that follows is: has he taken time to ponder on why the people would prefer to treat the agitators as heros and the police as enemy?
In his words, “our people know these criminals. They are our brothers, cousins and neighbors. It is unfortunate that in some communities, people contribute food to sustain these criminals hiding in the forest. How do you fight insecurity when people see criminals as heros and the police as enemy?”.
Looking at the above submission and juxtaposing it with daily experiences of people in the hands of officers of the Nigeria police and other related events in our polity, the question is: does it really make any sense for someone to now fathom why Mrs Kemi Badenoch (the Nigerian born leader of UK conservative party) would all the way from far-away city of London accuse the Nigerian police of stealing her brother’s shoes? Or, is Prof. Chukwuma Soludo unaware of or not familiar with this unpleasant narrative? If, for instance, this narrative could be established to be true, and Prof Soludo standing on this truth, verily believes it, how then could any sane person around willingly to treat the Nigeria police as a friend by playing as a matter of obligation the role of an informant to the institution? Which translates to living out the slogan of “if you see something, say something”. Expectedly, this and more are the sort of happenings around us which Prof. Soludo ought to have reflected upon before going the whole hog of accusing Ndi Anambra of treating the police as enemy, and Biafra agitators as heros.
Besides, it is both amazing and, in the same vein, contradictory that Soludo’s tirade against Biafra agitators vis-a-vis the spike in criminality in Anambra state is coming at a time when the National Bureau of Statistics through the instrumentality of its Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) has just released its 2024 report which shows that the South-East recorded the lowest crime rate in the country with 6.2 million incidents. Even at that though, it is not unlikely that given further state-by-state analysis of this figure within the South-Easten region itself, Anambra state is not unlikely to have a lion share of the sum total of all incidents that culminated in the arrival at this figure. This is due largely to the inept handling of the security sector of the state by the Soludo-led administration.
Further drawing from the 2024 inter-regional crime rate assessment in Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics is the fact that, if indeed the Biafra agitators are allegedly deeply involved in various forms of criminality across states of the South-Easten region of Nigeria as Prof Soludo would want all and sundry to believe, there is no way the Eastern bloc would have comparatively and implicitly been considered the safest zone in the country with a data record of 6.2 million crime rate. This by implications is an utter negation to Governor Soludo’s grandstanding over accusation of widespread criminality leveled against agitators for Biafra in Anambra state. Without obviously holding brief or vouching for these agitators, on the other hand, it is pretty difficult to believe that as serious as these wanton killings and other forms of criminality that prevail in the state are, especially with a recent killing of a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra state, all these atrocities could hardly be associated with agitators for Biafra.
Of course, fully granted that agitators for Biafra could occasionally go extreme in fomenting trouble of immense proportion, especially in an attempt to enforce the usual Monday sit-at-home protest order, the naked truth of the matter regarding the prevailing insecurity in Anambra state remains in the final analysis that Governor Chukwuma Soludo must step up efforts geared towards containing the increasing spate of violence and criminality almost overwhelming the state. No doubt, his well-thought-out plan to launch Operation _Udo_ _Ga_ _Achi_ with a view to containing the burgeoning activities of criminals in the state is really a welcome development. However, for the much needed success to be accomplished in this regard and on good time, the Governor ought to learn to divorce sheer case of ineptitude in the handling of security challenges afflicting our state from the activities of those who believe, rightly or wrongly, that it is their rights to agitate for an independent country of their own. Bearing this in mind and always staying away from unwarranted blame game while keeping an eye on the real task of nation-building, is the only viable approach to making a headway in surmounting the seemingly intractable insecurity ravaging Anambra state. A stitch in time therefore saves nine.
Onyiorah Paschal Chiduluemije writes from
Abatete in Anambra state, and could be reached via
+2347067504208.
