The governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Soludo, has declared that “unknown” gunmen terrorising the South East of Nigeria, are known.
The governor made the declaration on Sunday in a Channels Television programme, Sunday Politics.
Speaking on the recent attack on the convoy of the lawmaker representing Anambra South Senatorial District, Ifeanyi Ubah, which left some aides and security personnel dead, Soludo said the “unknown” gunmen were known.
His words: “They are not unknown gunmen. They are unknown to the extent that maybe they are not caught immediately in the act, but I can tell you that we have been catching quite a lot of them and they know that something is happening and that Anambra is not safe for them. Never again.”
The governor described the “unknown” gunmen as plain criminals with all of them coming from the South East.
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He said: “It is lucrative criminality and idolatry. These are the two things that have come with it.
“Anambra is, without a doubt, the richest state in the south-east. So, this is the place where kidnapping has the highest value. So, you have the highest concentration here….
“Let me be clear about this. 100 per cent of all the people that we have caught are Igbos. There is no one who has somebody invading from somewhere. It is 100 per cent Igbos on Igbos.
“The first set of people we caught were 100 per cent Igbos from other south-east states and none from Anambra.
“But as we went on, we then discovered that a whole lot of the youths who have been taken to these bushes that got indoctrinated and initiated into all these kinds of things also happen to be citizens of Anambra State or indigenes of Anambra.”
While pointing out that his government was doing its best to ensure that peace returned to the state, he said it had become obvious that the state was no longer safe for criminals.
He said the security efforts were already yielding fruits as peace had started returning to the state gradually.
The camps of their criminals, he said, were already being decimated.
“It won’t be too long before we pin them down,” he assured.
