The 17th of May 2022 was the day His Excellency, Governor Charles Soludo was sworn in as the substantive governor of the ever-human capital rich and once peaceful Anambra state.

In the build up to that election, Anambra state became a full-blown theatre of war. It was alleged that the story that was fed to the ordinary voters was that it was the then APC candidate in that election that was responsible for the insecurity in the state.

The allegation was that the insecurity was sponsored by the party with the sole aim of giving them the edge they needed to ‘write election results’ in their own favour.

The memory of what used to be the reality of ndi Anambra before the 2022 governorship election is still very fresh with anyone who survived that era.

It was only two (2) years after the End SARS protest which started on the 11th of October through to 20th of October 2020.

Build up to 2022 governorship election in Anambra State

The memory of what the reality of ndi Anambra was before the 2022 governorship election is still very fresh with anyone who survived that era. It was just some couples of years after the End SARS protest which started on the 11^th of October through to 20^th of October 2020.

To make matters a bit worse for the ordinary citizen who has no interest in holding any political office, it was within that period that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was arrested.

Kanu was arrested on 27th June 2021 and extradited from Kenya in a gestapo style to Nigeria to face trial for the destruction of so many lives and property he had caused in ala Igbo through his radio and social media broadcast during the General Muhammadu Buhari regime.

Hell was let loose in the Southeast as citizens bore the raw brunt of the IPOB foot soldiers alongside the criminals who took advantage of the seeming stalemate.

We cannot argue that we are not aware that the end SARS protest which led to the torching and looting of security posts in the Southeast was the beginning of our security misery as a people.

Some months after the end SARS protest, prisons were attacked and security operatives in Southeast became objects of attack by a group of people who claimed that they didn’t need the Nigerian security operatives in the Southeast.

While we must admit that General Muhammadu Buhari was the worst president any nation can be cursed with, he gave so much impetus to the actions of the group fighting for self-determination in South-eastern Nigeria.

His hatred for ndi Igbo was very evident in how he treated the South-eastern people of Nigeria and because of this singular act, any dick or tom that claimed to be fighting for the liberation of ndi Igbo through whatever means be it civil, confrontational or criminal had the support of the masses.

These sacking of security outposts and random attacks on security operatives in South-eastern Nigeria unleashed an era of terror on the region.

The South-eastern Governors at the time who were torn between standing up for the region to do what is right and playing the political game of ignoring most of these criminals whom they wrongly termed our brothers and as such did not make any effort to crush the criminals with the full apparatus of state. The Governors of the Southeast tolerated the madness going on under their watch until these criminals that claimed to be freedom fighters became full blown monsters that fed through violence, kidnapping and human body parts trafficking to sustain their criminal enterprises.

They became soo brutal that they sacked communities, gave orders which were all carried out by the masses as a result of fear of being killed, if anyone dares to flout their orders.

Anyone who lived in the Southeast during that time would remember that the very first time a sit at home order was proclaimed by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on Radio Biafra, it was from his diaspora base as he had youths who bore the tags of IPOB move round Igbo land on the said day to ensure full compliance.

The strategy was very clear, weaken the security agents, then arm your own boys to execute whatever order you dished out. On the very day that sit at home was declared for the first time, businesses that opened on that day were destroyed, a Sienna bus was burnt with its occupants along Mbaise and all these were captured on camera to serve as a lesson to others who would dare disobey their orders.

This was how bad things got in ala Igbo at that time. Then for some strange reasons towards the tail end of Chief Willie Obiano’s tenure as the governor, the criminal enterprise in Anambra all couched under the guise of freedom fighting reached an all-time high. It was so bad that the present governor of Anambra state, a then aspirant to the position of the governor was attacked and in the process some of his security details were taken out in that outrightly bloody ensuing gun duel. These attackers claimed that there would be no election in ala Igbo at the time and as a result they consistently unleashed violence on politicians and political gatherings during that era.

The Fulani herders as the alleged assailants in ala Igbo

One other truth that was universally known was that the then General Muhammadu Buhari was pro Fulani herders such that it was a routine experience for these herders to be seen with AK 47 riffles and when they are arrested, it was alleged to only take some time before they are released.

These major criminal rings who posed as agitators that were the prime beneficiaries of the insecurity being unleashed on the Southeast went to town with the narrative that the insecurity was being carried out solely by the Fulanis. They pushed the manipulative narrative that Fulanis in our bushes were the ones kidnapping and killing ndi Igbo. The years that were to follow now made it crystal clear to us that the majority of the people killing and executing ndi Igbo in their land were majorly their brothers.

Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo as a newly sworn in governor.

Upon being sworn in, during his inaugural speech Nwa Mgbafor made it clear that a new sheriff was in town and that the criminals who were masquerading as freedom fighters had the option of leaving the bushes where they operate from and come to the negotiation table for the government to know what their problems are with the aim of addressing them.

Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo at the time even formed a committee headed by the present governing council chairman of Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam, the erudite Prof. Chidi Odinkalu which was supposed to interface with these criminals with a view to finding a lasting solution to what was assumed to be a conflict. The people who volunteered to leave the bush and drop their arms on their own were promised by the government to groom them on various skills with which they can change the course of their lives when acquired.

These criminals who were making so much money from the criminal enterprise never blinked in the direction of the government as they now went full scale with kidnapping, armed robbery and organ harvesting.

It now became routine for people to be kidnapped in Anambra, ransom paid on behalf of these victims and still these victims are killed without anyone having any form of trace to their corpse. This act of overwhelming insecurity continues from the year 2022 till 17^th January 2025 when the Homeland Security bill was launched and passed into law.

While we must be bold to ask why Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo as the governor had to wait this long to confront this insecurity monster in a way that a man whose primary duty should be the security of human lives and property, we must acknowledge that atleast he has finally taken the bull by the horn.

There is a very strong feeling that the forthcoming election in November 2025 has played a major role in guiding the hands of the governor to move in the way, manner and with the velocity it should against these criminals for once.

Homeland Security Law and Operation Udo ga achi

Having taken my time to look at the twenty-five paged document, it dawned on me that beyond Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s quest to keep Anambra state safe, this is a man that has sworn with his life to weaken the criminal ring in the state responsible for the insecurity in a systematic manner so much that they cannot be useful to the opposition incase any criminal minded politician intends to patronise these criminals in the build up to the election to make the state ungovernable.

While some schools of thought believe that the Operation Udo-ga-achi may be solely a political tool with which the forthcoming election would be won, the larger population of Anambra residents and the ones that have fled their communities for safety are full of praises for the governor and his team for offering them the opportunity to live their lives without fear once more.

The law is a well thought out scholarly approach to sort out insecurity in a sustainable manner.

The kidnapping and organ harvesting criminal syndicates

With successes of the joint task force saddled with the responsibility of retrieving Anambra state from criminals entirely, it is now very clear that we never even appreciated the extent of the disaster. There have been marrow chilling discoveries made by the security agents which the kidnapping and execution of a sitting member of the state house of assembly is one of them. This sitting house member was kidnapped, a ransom of hundred million naira (N100,000,000) paid for his release but yet the abductors still killed him.

Have you seen the video of some of the kidnap ring members butchering a human being with cutlas as though her was an animal? What is scarier is that the narrative in the public domain is that these body parts have ready markets where they are evacuated to once they are available. The thought of this alone is marrow chilly.

The allegation of organ harvest syndicates being present in the state was substantiated by the manner in which human beings were being kidnapped in the state without any trace to where these people are. As I write this now, a particular big-time player in the real estate sector called Mr. BigBen of Dubai Estate has been missing since November till date as revealed by the missing person’s wife. Nothing is known to the public about the whereabout of this enterprising young man who has an unexplainable passion for the development of Anambra state.

We are hopeful that with the legislation passed by the Anambra State house of Assembly as it pertains to The Homeland Security law, this menace would be tamed consistently going forward.

The N5,000,000 whistle blower’s policy is a game changer in recovering the state from criminals but there should be more investment in gathering of intelligence with which the security operatives would address issues of insecurity.

The hard drug distributorship and arm dealing syndicate

While watching the various videos of the level of bestiality displayed by these youths against their victims, these youths who are majorly under thirty (30) years of age largely who are largely of Igbo origin, it is clear that these youths are carrying out these operations with unimaginable dosages of hard drugs in their veins. The question now is, who are the drug dealers supplying them with these drugs, who are the gun runners supplying them these guns for such operations?

The criminal value chain revolves around these drugs peddlers, gun suppliers, human body parts vendors who supply the human body parts which are often used for rituals and preparation of charms aimed at keeping the criminals safe and undetectable by the security agents. It is amazing how these youths who live by the gun are scared of dying by the gun, it is really interesting.

The direct correlation between the practice of black magic and its role in the establishment of criminal enterprise.

Sometime in 2021 a renowned internationally known business man who has built his brand through dint of consistent hard work, sweat, self-development and ruthless networking with worthy players in his industry of interest buried his mother in Oba Anambra state in an outlandish style, something that was not the norm at the time. This business man being talked about is Mr. Iyiegbu Obinna who is known as Obi Cubana or Okpole Yankee.

While a lot of people argued that the display of wealth was not the very best of things to do, I beg to differ. This is because any well raised adult would always know that such volumes of wealth are built overtime with consistent work, great investment in self and dedicated building of purposeful networks.

Just after the burial of Mama Iyiegbu in Oba Anambra state, a group of largely uneducated young, meanly manipulative men took a swipe at the very gullible youth population who were outrightly desperate for quick wealth without any form of enterprise.

These black magic practitioners sold the dud cheque of their version of Okeite, Awele and Isa uchu to these extremely gullible youths who believed that once they are able to fulfil the requirements to have the self-acclaimed native doctors prepare these charms for them, that they were on their way to humongous wealth.

You would be amazed to realise that these charms in some other cases was prepared for people into all forms of crime, for these criminals not to be caught in their criminality. I am surprised that these charms didn’t help them evade arrest by the Agunechemba team.

How would you feel if you are told that it is a slogan on the street that for a charm to be more potent that the blood of a human being (with some funny specifications) or human body parts had to be involved?

This narrative expressed above explains the increase in the number of missing people in the state.

This is why any measure which is covered by the legislation to stop henceforth the trades of these destructive Dibias, should be encouraged. The section 18 of the Anambra homeland security law did an excellent job at addressing these enablers of criminality.

Anambra State government has at no time condemned omenaala.

Nze Tobe Osigwe is a well-known Omenaala adherent who lives and teaches omenaala. At no time have we seen him use his platform to promote wealth without enterprise. We have read about his beautiful encounter with ndi Agunechemba and that further illustrates that the only people being haunted down by the state government are the people practicing sorcery in the disguise of omenaala.

The government must be encouraged to route out these criminals so that the state becomes safe for everyone to live and do their legitimate business without the fear of being kidnapped and their body parts being sold to sorcerers for the preparation of somewhat more potent charms.

Conclusion

We appreciate these efforts of the Prof. Charles Soludo led administration but beyond all these, we wish that this system is maintained beyond the election and rapidly improved upon. These security outfit workforces should be trained regularly, rewarded for bravery in service and given every form of support they need.

At the end of the day, we want Anambra to succeed and thrive on all spheres. All other South-eastern governor must protect their territories so that the people affected by “oso Soludo” don’t settle in their states to regroup and continue their criminality.

This is not a time to distract the governor and his team with the religion intolerance chants. The state government is after the set of people enabling these criminals be them Christians or adherents of African Traditional religion. Whoever is found to be an enabler of the destruction of ala Igbo should be tried and the full weight of the law should be brought to bear on such individuals.

May Anambra State succeed and may ala Igbo no more be a thriving ground for criminality.