Group counters as Soludo claims South-East criminals are Igbo
By : Lawrence Njoku (Enugu) and Timothy Agbor (Osogbo)
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State
• Igbo leaders, Anglican Church task Tinubu on insecurity, collapse of businesses
Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has notified Anambra indigenes resident in the United States that the criminals terrorising the South-East are not Fulanis but Igbo indigenes.
There had been the notion that most of the kidnap activities taking place in the South-East were done by Fulani terrorists living in the bushes in the zone and disguised as herdsmen with the intent to conquer.
But while addressing indigenes of Anambra in the U.S. during a town hall meeting in Maryland, the governor insisted that 99.99 per cent of criminals arrested in Anambra were not Fulani, but Igbo.
He said: “The so-called liberators hiding in the forests are homegrown criminals feeding fat on blood money. They come under the guise that they are the ones protecting you from Fulani herdsmen.
“They live in the bushes for months, but no one has ever asked how these so-called liberators survive in the forest. They must feed; who is paying for their services? Don’t they have needs?
However, a rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has countered the governor, insisting that herdsmen were actually in the bushes in the zone.
The group accused Soludo’s administration of “shielding Jihadist herdsmen since 2022 and dangerously dragging Anambra State into the Federal Government’s ranching compliant state.”
MEANWHILE, the Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT) and the Diocese of Ijesha North (Anglican Communion) have called on President Bola Tinubu to address the security situation in the country, urging a full-scale campaign to stop the ongoing genocide in parts of the country.
Rising from their meeting in Enugu, the Igbo leaders said the rising insecurity with the latest slaughtering in Benue, Kebbi, Plateau, Imo, Niger and other states should be of paramount concern to any government.
In a statement released after the meeting, signed by Prof. Elo Amucheazi and Secretary, Prof. Jerry Chukwuokolo, they stated that no meaningful development would take place in a country with so much insecurity and where the citizens are disillusioned by the situation.
They said: “Tinubu has been in office for two years, and much has been expected from his administration. But the insecurity challenge has continued to rise, with the latest genocidal slaughtering in Benue, Kebbi, Plateau, Imo and Niger and number of other states. We plead Tinubu to order a full-scale campaign to stop this genocide.
The leaders renewed the plea for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
ALSO, while calling on the President to address the security situation in the country, the Ijesha North Anglican Communion also decried the increasing number of out-of-school children and the collapse of businesses due to worsening poverty.
The Church made these lamentations and pleas in a communiqué issued after the second session of the Fifth Synod of Ijesa North Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) held at the Cathedral Church of St. Matthew, Ijebu-Jesa, from July 3 to 6, 2025.
GUARDIAN Newspapers.