Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State says that nearly all suspected kidnappers and criminals arrested in the state over the past three years have been of Igbo origin.Speaking during a town hall meeting with Anambra indigenes in the diaspora, held at Metro Points Hotel in New Carrollton, Maryland, United States, the governor debunked the widely circulated belief that Fulani herders are responsible for the spate of violence and kidnapping in the South-East.
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“I have been in office for three years and three months. If we have arrested 100 criminals and kidnappers, 99.99% of them are Igbo youths,” Soludo stated.
He described the previous assumptions as propaganda, adding that such misinformation had misled some Igbo youths into criminal activities, particularly kidnapping, which he said had become a “lucrative job” following the rise of internet fraud and drug trafficking.
“Those behind these crimes are our own people. Igbos are the ones kidnapping Igbos. Most of the camps we’ve dismantled were operated by individuals from within the region,” he said.
Soludo urged Anambra indigenes in the diaspora to return home, invest, and contribute their knowledge and resources to the development of the state.
“Even people from other states now call it the ‘Anambra job’. They go to their villages, buy motorcycles, and come here to join the business. They get trained in the bush and operate kidnapping rings. But when they are caught, they blame the Fulani herdsmen,” he said.
He admitted that he also once believed the false narrative that Fulani herders were the cause of insecurity in the state, saying: “I came in with that same belief that Fulani herdsmen were invading our land and that they were just waiting for the right signal to take over. So, we thought we were the liberators and chased them into the bush.
“But no one asked how those claiming to be liberators survive in the forest for months. How are they feeding? How are they armed?
“I want to be quoted clearly that 99.99% of all the criminals we have arrested in Anambra are Igbos. All the camps we’ve dismantled are operated by Igbos.”
(The Cable)
