Anambra State Governor Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has declared victory over a five-year reign of terror in the South East region, where criminal gangs enforced weekly “sit-at-home” orders that paralysed markets, schools and daily life.
Speaking with State House Correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Soludo revealed that his administration has dismantled 62 criminal camps since he took office.
The Anambra Governor who vowed to end criminality in the State, credited the achievement to collaborative efforts involving federal security including the Police, vigilantes and local outfits.
“We are not resting not one second,” he said. “In Anambra we pride ourselves to be the safest, if not, modestly, one of the safest States in the country.”
NewsQuest reports that the Southeast region has been gripped by violence linked to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) separatist movement and criminal elements exploiting the unrest.
For five years, Mondays brought shutdowns across five States, with shops bolted, schools empty and roads deserted outside major capitals.
According to Governor Soludo, “These criminals have held the southeast region hostage.”
He said “Enough is enough, and I am happy that so far, we are taking back our region. We are taking back our State.”
The Anambra Governor who lamented the close down of markets, estimated weekly losses at 20% of the workweek for informal sectors—equivalent to one day shuttered in every five—compounding into forgone growth as investors fled from the region.
He declared Onitsha Main Market, as the largest market in West Africa with over 45,000 shops, saying last Monday’s reopening drew joyous crowds.
“Tens of thousands of people there, chanting and rejoicing,” Soludo recounted from a recent visit. “You couldn’t find space to even put your feet,” he added.
Governor Soludo explained that Anambra’s security model blended federal might – the Army, Navy, Airforce, DSS and the Nigerian Security And Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with state-level vigilantes like the Anambra Vigilante also called ‘agony chamber’ as well as anti-kidnapping units to achieve the feet.
“Security is everybody’s responsibility,” Governor Soludo stressed.
The Anambra Governor applauded the recent National Economic Council (NEC) summit held at the presidential villa echoing where leaders at the sub-national levels recommitted to joint a action to address insecurity.
“No one arm of government and not even one community or individual can deal with it,” he noted.
