Chukwuma Soludo, the Governor of Anambra State, has revealed that nearly all individuals arrested for kidnapping and criminal activities in the state over the past three years are of Igbo origin — not Fulani, as widely believed.
Speaking during a town hall meeting with Anambra indigenes in the diaspora at Metro Points Hotel, New Carrollton, Maryland, USA, Soludo debunked the long-held narrative that herdsmen were behind the wave of criminality in the South-East.
“I have been in office for three years and three months. If we have arrested 100 criminals and kidnappers, 99.99% of them are Igbo youths,” the governor stated.
He said the misinformation blaming Fulani herders had misled many young people into criminal ventures such as kidnapping, which has now become a booming illegal enterprise.
“That was part of the lies pushed as propaganda, that the Fulanis were behind it all. That lie led our youths into kidnapping because it became the next lucrative job after ‘Yahoo’ and drug trafficking,” he said.
Soludo added that “Igbos are the ones kidnapping Igbos” and revealed that most of the criminal hideouts dismantled by security forces in Anambra were being run by locals.
He urged those in the diaspora to invest in the development of their communities back home and warned against allowing false narratives to fester.
“Even those from other states now call it the ‘Anambra job’. They go to their villages, buy motorcycles, and come here to join the business. They get taken into the bush, trained in the act. But when they are eventually arrested, they claim it’s the Fulanis,” Soludo said.
“I came with that same false narrative, that the Fulanis are invading our people, that they are just waiting for a whistle to be blown before they take over.
“Therefore, we thought we were the liberators. So we, Igbos, went into the bush to chase them out.
“But nobody asked how those claiming to be liberators survive in the forest for one, two, or even six months. How do they feed?
“I want you to quote me right — 99.99% of all the criminals we have arrested are Igbos. All these camps are Igbos.”
