Anambra Killings: Igbo Are Responsible, Says Soludo

Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State says gunmen terrorizing the state are Igbo. The governor spoke on the heels of the terror being unleashed on the state by criminals.

Many people including the husband of late Dorah Akunyili the NAFDAC Director General, Chike Akunyili had been killed in a most gruesome manner by the assailants.

Last week Senator Ifeanyi Uba escaped death by the whiskers after he was attacked by some gunmen who killed at least seven policemen in his convoy.

Apart from civilians, the criminals have also targeted security operatives.

Until now, some people have blamed foreigners for unleashing terror on the state. Others blamed members of the IPOB for the violence.

Speaking on Sunday Politics, a programme on Channels Television yesterday Governor Soludo said those that have been arrested by security agents so far are from the state.

Soludo described the perpetrators of violence as “plain criminals, nothing else.”

The governor said his administration will do all in its capacity to restore peace to the troubled state by adopting the carrot and stick approach.

He said, “Anambra is, without a doubt, the richest state in the south-east. So, this is the place where kidnapping has the highest value. So, you have the highest concentration here.

“They are not unknown gunmen. They are unknown to the extent that maybe they are not caught immediately in the act, but I can tell you that we have been catching quite a lot of them and they know that something is happening and that Anambra is not safe for them. Never again.

“Let me be clear about this. 100 percent of all the people that we have caught are Igbos. There is no one who has somebody invading from somewhere. It is 100 percent Igbos on Igbos.

“The first set of people we caught were 100 percent Igbos from other south-east states and none from Anambra.

“But as we went on, we then discovered that a whole lot of the youths who have been taken to these bushes that got indoctrinated and initiated into all these kinds of things also happen to be citizens of Anambra state or indigenes of Anambra.”

“Their camps are being decimated. It won’t be too long before we pin them down,” he said.

“Anambra has been quite relatively peaceful. We are pursuing this agenda. Compared to many other places in Nigeria, I’ll dare to say — if we are to have the statistics for the past three months — I think Anambra will compete favourably as one of the safest comparatively.”