Politics
‘Soludo Must Go’: Mass discontent over insecurity threatens 2nd term bid

“It’s total war,” Gov. declares
On Wednesday, Diaspora Members of Amaokpala community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State held a press conference to announce that a member of the community, a United Kingdom-based professional, Mr. Ikechukwu Okeke, had been kidnapped by gunmen, while expressing outrage over the spate of insecurity in the state.
According to the community, Mr. Okeke, the elder brother to Dr. Chukwudi Okeke, chairman of Oxfordshire Cherwell District Council, returned to Nigeria on December 27, 2024, to attend his cousin’s funeral and visit his ailing parents before the unfortunate incident occured.
“The tragic incident occurred on January 10, at about 7:30pm, as Mr. Okeke was returning home from the funeral of his cousin, Mrs. Obiageli Okoli. The community called on the state governor, Prof. Charles Soludo to take immediate and decisive action to address the security challenges threatening lives and property in the region.
Their son, Okeke was, however, released three days after, following payment of an undisclosed ransom to the kidnappers .
Mr. Okeke could count himself lucky to have come out of his ordeal alive. And so could Rev. Fr. Nonso, a Catholic priest, who was kidnapped on December 17, 2024 after his return from overseas for the Christmas holidays, and spent a week at his captors’ den in a forest, before his rescue upon the payment of N1m mobilization fee to the state police command by his colleague, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Obimma, popularly known as “Father Ebube Muonso.”
Days after, another priest, Fr. Tobias Okonkwo, of the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, was not so lucky. He was brutally murdered by gunmen, who abducted him in the Ihiala area of the state on December 26, 2024.
The story is similar in most parts of the state. Gunmen run rampage, abducting for ransom without let, even within Awka, the state capital, and sometimes killing victims in cold blood, while the government of Prof. Soludo appeared for the most part to be out of touch, even as his foot soldiers tended to play down the menace, spurring mass anger.
“Soludo MUST go,” said Noble Eyisi, a resident of the state, whose anger is a fair reflection of the feeling of many in the state; “… a culture of silence and palpable fear has befallen Anambra State. Insecurity, kidnappings and death, the levels of which we’ve never witnessed has become the daily lives of our people.”
Another governorship election is due in Anambra in November, and although Gov. Soludo doesn’t appear to face strong opposition at the moment, observers say he could be in trouble if things continue the way they are, and a strong opponent emerges with concrete ideas on how to tackle insecurity.
“If there’s a strong opponent, who can convince the people of Anambra that he has solutions to the insecurity, Soludo will be in serious trouble,” said Oliver Nwafor, a foodstuff dealer in Awka. “But at the moment, no strong opposition is in the picture and that’s the tragedy.”
Nwafor, like many residents of the state admitted that the situation is “very bad,” noting that “everyone is living in fear,” while in his estimation, the governor is doing nothing about it.
“The situation is very, very bad,” he said. “If they have not kidnapped you, then you have reason to give thanks to God. My friend, Chukwuemeka Amaeze was kidnapped recently and he had to pay heavy ransom. One professor was also kidnapped in Awka here and he had to cough up N10m. Nowhere is safe in Anambra now.
“Once it’s 6:30 in Awka here, people will close shops and go home. I used to do jogging in the morning, but I no longer try it because it’s too risky. They can just put you in the car and that’s it, you have been kidnapped. And the painful thing is that the governor is doing nothing about it. We keep hearing about turning Anambra into Dubai and Taiwan, but people are not longer safe. It’s true that he’s building roads, but security is very important. You can imagine that it’s the Enugu State government that is helping to track kidnappers in Anambra.”
There’s a growing sense of helplessness in the state, and a general feeling that Gov. Soludo is not serious about tackling the challenge.
Fr. Obimma, who presented his rescued colleague, Fr. Nonso to the congregation during his ministration in December, had narrated how he approached the security agencies in Anambra, but they initially said they could not do anything about it, neither could the government of Soludo.
“For a week, Father Nonso was in the hands of kidnappers. Government could not do anything, it got to a point where I had to use my arsenal to rescue him, he said. “I approached a state outside Anambra and begged them to use their tracker to find my brother priest. They tracked him and sent the full location to me. I sent it to security people and they asked me what I want them to do with the information. I told them to go after the kidnappers and rescue our priest, but they told me they don’t usually go into the forest.”
Continuing, the priest had said, “I volunteered to lead the operation. I called the Chief Security (Officer) of Adoration Ministry and told him to assemble his men, let those, who have cutlasses bring their cutlasses and those who have guns should bring them, I would lead the operation. When they saw that I was serious, that was when the police told me I should not worry that they could rescue him, just that they lacked logistics.
“I had to send N1m to them. This is a state where we have a governor, who receives security votes, but it is individuals, who are now funding security.”
Fr. Obimma lamented that the shocking part of the scenario was that for one week, the kidnapped priest was in custody, his mobile phone line remained open and the kidnappers never bothered to put it off or even dispose of it, knowing that they could be tracked through it.
“They knew that there is no security in this state. That was why I said there is no security in Anambra State. Imagine using a tracker from another location to trace kidnappers, yet, the security agencies refused to act until I opted to use my security to rescue the victim, and later they accepted and I still paid them N1m for mobilisation. Only God will lead us,” he added.
The priest was eventually rescued alongside a businessman, who was abducted on the same day by the same gang but in a different location.
The spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, had confirmed the development when contacted , but the Commissioner of Police, CP Nnaghe Itam, had ordered a full-scale investigation into the allegations.
In a recent video, Gov. Soludo was seen arguing that why kidnapping is rampant in Anambra is that there are a lot of rich people in the state, who could pay millions as ransom. In some other states, he said, the kidnappers don’t bother because if they see anyone, who could give them N10,000 or N15,000, they’d be grateful – a simplistic diagnosis that attracted outrage on social media. Many continue to use the medium to express their frustrations with the governor.
“Soludo is from Aguata. Even that Aguata is a den of kidnappers, said Chinaza, @MuchTalksBlog1. “There’s no week you won’t hear cases of a kidnapping in UGA, Ezinifite, Nkpologu, Igbo Ukwu, Ekwulobia and many many more. Anambra is tired, Soludo.”
Odibeze, @achebz, noted that people are now too scared to attend social events in Anambra, while calling the governor “an absolute disgrace”, because according to her, “Rather than face governance, he’s parroting around.” Continuing, Odibeze said, “The security situation in Anambra is so terrible that attending events in villages have become scary.”
A professor of economics and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who had a lot to say about governance, in published articles and public presentations, many had high expectations of Soludo. But his performance as governor, in their reckoning, has been disappointing and calls to question the place of intellect in public administration.
“Soludo was meant to set a strong precedent for the intellectual class in Alaigbo, inspiring trust in academia’s role in politics,” said Afam, @AfamDeluxo, a popular commentator on X. “Sadly, his poor handling of insecurity has eroded that trust. It may take divine intervention for the people to believe in intellectuals in Alaigbo (Igboland) politics again.”
For Nze, @nzemmili another influencer X user, “After Soludo, the respect for professors will drastically reduce. He killed the idea an average ‘Onye’ Anambra have when they hear professors. Leaders are part of those, who are killing the way young people view education.”
On his part, @Urchilla01, noted that, “The worst thing about the insecurity in Anambra state is that random people are being picked up for ransoms as little as N1 million. It’s not even about being affluent anymore; being an average Joe doesn’t guarantee your safety either.
“One of my whatsapp groups is buzzing with news of someone who was kidnapped, whose kidnappers are demanding a 2M ransom. Abeg, which kine kidnappers de demand 2M ransom?
“These people definitely depend on turnover, and that’s why the kidnapping is so rampant. The funny thing is such kidnap gangs aren’t even sophisticated enough to continually evade capture; Anambra just dey unlucky to have an efulefu as governor.”
To be fair to him, the insecurity, which heightened with the violence turn of separatist agitators in the South East in early 2021, following the formation of Eastern Security Network (ESN) earlier in December 2020 by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), predates Soludo, who became governor in 2022 in the peak of the security crisis.
But his critics insist he has handled the situation poorly, which in their reckoning led to its morphing into a multifaceted security challenges, comprising of cult violence, harassment by touts, kidnapping for ransom, and daylight armed robbery.
Indeed, for some inexplicable reasons, Soludo, upon coming to power, opted to empower touts as revenue collectors in the state, giving them apron as officials of the state government, and it did not take long before Onitsha, in particular, descended into chaos with touts running rampage, and Awka followed. Touts, now feeling empowered with state backing, harassed transporters, traders and residents at every turn. And it was in this context that cult crisis also escalated, as different groups battled for sphere of influence.
“I was flabbergasted to notice that touts in Onitsha now collect money from people, who bought goods from the market in Onitsha and are waiting for a bus that will take them to Asaba in the name of land tax. And they are putting on apron,” noted Chinee Okoloigwe, another resident of the state. “I used to think that this has been forgotten.”
Living in Onitsha in the 90s up to early to middle 2000s was hellish. Armed robbers thrived and touts had a field day. The Chinweoke Mbadinuju administration, which lasted from 1999 to 2003, introduced Bakassi Boys to help curb the menace of armed robbery with relative success, but it was the administration of Peter Obi that dealt seriously with criminals in the state and restored sanity to Onitsha.
The Obi administration, importantly, got rid of touts in the commercial city, and Onitsha had a semblance of serenity. Willie Obiano, who succeeded him in 2014 eventually banned commercial motorcycle operation, which helped to maintain sanity.
However, Obiano tolerated touts, which was a low point of his administration. And residents say Soludo has taken things further backwards by not just tolerating touts, but also empowering them by giving them uniforms under different labels.
“Peter Obi as governor, was able to get rid of the touts,” said Emeka Okeke, a taxi driver, who took this correspondent from Onitsha to Awka. “But Willie Obiano, who succeeded him tolerated them. However, Soludo came onboard and empowered them and gave them uniforms, and they have been terrorizing people. It’s very unfortunate.”
The story of Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme, former president of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, and former president of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Onitsha federated chapel, who in October, had his spinal cord broken by agents of the Anambra State Waste Management Authority led by one Joseph Okoye, over argument about Waste Management levy, is one that outraged many. But it’s not an isolated incident. Videos of various uniformed officials brutalizing residents of the state are commonplace.
“Our land has been desecrated. We’re now being mocked as Anambra people, and it’s very bad. But it’s not time for blame games, and begging the governor to stop looking for people to blame when he talks about insecurity,” regretted Valentine Ozigbo, a Labour Party chieftain, who was the runner-up in the state’s 2021 governorship election.
“The truth is that if you want to solve any problem, you take ownership and responsibility, not looking for who to apportion blames to. Almost all our bushes are inhabited by criminals,” Ozigbo said.
“The first thing I suggest is that we should have a leadership retreat, and during the retreat, we will ask the governor to set up a proper monitoring system so that people can know what’s happening around them. Then we’ll also discuss how to motivate the security forces. And a system of anonymous reporting, because a lot people don’t talk for fear of retribution. What can be done are many, and while tackling insecurity, the economy should also be look into. We have to look for ways to get our youths gainfully employed.”
EFCC worsens the chaos
Amid the security challenges, residents say the penchant for officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) breaking into people’s homes in the wee hours of the night in the name of looking for Yahoo Boys, has further created panic and put everyone on the edge.
“There is hardly any difference between EFCC officials and armed robbers going by their mode of operation,” said Akachukwu Okafor in Awka. “They will break into your house at about 1am, pull down your door, destroy properties and arrest everyone in the house. It’s unfortunate.”
On Friday, Halisu Sahabi, an Assistant Superintendent of the EFCC was killed during a raid on a residential building in Awka, by a suspect identified as Chukwuka Josiah Ikechukwu Nnamdi, who hails from Ifite, Awka.
Nnamdi, who has since been arrested by the police, was said to have shot the EFCC official and injured another while they were trying to break into his house at 3am thinking them to be armed robbers. This is even as the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, had in late October 2023, announced a ban on night sting operations by operatives of the commission.
The suspect, who is currently being detained at the SCID and is likely to face murder charges, had claimed he shot and killed the EFCC operative in self-defence with a licensed pump action, it was gathered.
Meanwhile, the late EFCC official was on Saturday, flown to Sokoto for burial.
Soludo declares total war
Meanwhile, after long periods of appearing to live in denial, Gov. Soludo may have woken up to the challenge, declaring “total war” against kidnappers and other criminals.
On Friday night, Soludo met with all the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in Anambra State and pledged N10million to any division with zero violent crime rate monthly.
On Saturday, he launched “Operation Udo Ga-Achi” and signed the Anambra Homeland Security Law 2025, in a bid to tackle the security challenges facing the state.
While signing the Homeland Security Law 2025, Soludo stated that the law provides a framework for community/citizens’ ownership and participation in sustainable security and social re-engineering.
According to Gov. Soludo, “Operation Udo Ga-Achi” is a special intervention force that complements regular policing, and is designed to upscale intelligence gathering, reward whistleblowers, enhance rapid response, and urgently root out criminals from every camp in Anambra State.
The governor noted that the security challenges facing the state are complex and hydra-headed, requiring a comprehensive and sustainable response. He emphasized that the state government is determined to fight criminality and ensure that Anambra becomes the safest state in Nigeria.
Key components of the Anambra Homeland Security Law 2025 include:
– Establishment of a new vigilante architecture, Agunechemba, to assist and complement federal security forces
– Deployment of technology, including tracking systems, command-and-control systems, and AI-powered surveillance cameras
– Establishment of a State Call Centre with toll-free lines
– Payment of monthly security support grants to communities
– Payment of a monthly bonus of N10 million to Divisional Police Offices that record zero violent crimes
The governor also announced that the state government will review assistance to existing Correctional Centres and embark on building new ones.
He further stated that the government will work with the Commissioner of Police and DSS to identify top LGAs with violent crime histories.
Announcing the launch of a security outfit earlier, Soludo said, “We will call it Agunaechemba, just like they have Amotekun in South West. My key message is that we’re going to fight this thing in any and every way that we can. We must secure our bushes and we must kick them out of every camp where they are in Anambra. It’s a total and all out war.”
The governor’s move in this regard, has been commended by some, who say it is the right step to to take. But it remains to be seen how far it can go in bringing an end to the menace of insecurity in Anambra.
“I have studied the new Anambra State Homeland & Security Law 2025. I love it, especially how PG’s, LG Heads are roped into it, implementation is next, noted Ogbaji Ifeanyi, a public affairs commentator in the state.”