The last time Anambra State experienced extraordinary and continuing assassinations, audacious abductions, and terrifying atmosphere of terror was prior to the governorship election on 6 November 2021. At that time, the state looked ungovernable. People were picked up forcefully and arbitrarily by criminals they did not recognise, regardless of whether they were in their homes, on their way to work, on their way to school or church, on their way to the marketplace, and even when they were sleeping.

At that time, the election campaigns were disrupted by indiscriminate and execution-style murders of citizens, setting ablaze of private commercial vehicles and residential homes, and incineration of personal property and businesses. No one could make sense of all the killings. At one point during the campaigns, it looked like the governorship election would be abandoned owing to unprecedented and wilful violence that prevailed, despite the presence of police, soldiers, and state security agents.

On November 6, 2021, Anambra State conducted the governorship election. It was free, fair, peaceful, admirable, transparent, and credible. There was no violence, no loss of lives, and no bloodshed. The state experienced a phenomenon.

In the past, only the abductions of high-profile politicians and wealthy people make headline news. However, the state of insecurity has not ended in Anambra State. Ordinary people are still being killed or kidnapped haphazardly on a daily basis, even if such criminal activities do not make headline news. One year on, following the election of Charles Chukwuma Soludo as governor, people are still living in fear. And as Christmas and New Year festivities draw closer, the fear of the unknown has pervaded the state and beyond, particularly people residing overseas who are planning to visit their home state for the end-of-year celebrations.

Months after he settled down to business in government, the security challenges have returned and in more chilling ways, such as the kidnapping and beheading of high-profile politicians in the state. The beheadings were extraordinary. Never before did Anambra citizens experience the ghoulish spectre of people being decapitated by “unknown gunmen”. Owing to this development, many people believe that insecurity in Anambra State is gradually taking the shine off the admirable image that Soludo cultivated even before he became governor.

Insecurity in Anambra State is becoming grim. No one expected that months after the election of a new government, bloodthirsty criminal groups would return to threaten the lives of people in the state. In the week before the governorship election and soon after the new government was inaugurated in March 2022, Anambra State enjoyed a period of peace. People moved about freely. The frequency of kidnapping was reduced substantially. Brutal murders of citizens appeared to have disappeared. But not anymore. The dreadful era of asassinations and violent abductions seems to have returned.

People are now living on the edge because of the rising incidence of vicious abductions in cities and local communities. The perpetrators are usually unidentified although some of the criminals have been apprehended and unmasked in recent times, thanks to the commitment, detrermination, and courage of soldiers, police, other security agents comprising local community security groups who undertake law enforcement duties to complement the services provided by the police and the army.

Concern over the return of criminal groups is growing. The “unknown gunmen” have become more audacious. Sometimes they engage in suicide missions by confronting professionally trained and fully armed soldiers in a shootout in which they always lose their lives to soldiers.   

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The challenge facing Anambra State as the season of festivities draws near is an existential one. A state once regarded, recognised, and respected as a paradigm among other states is now trying to convince its citizens to return home during the Christmas and New Year festivities. How could insecurity degenerate within one year, marking a reappearance of the awful situation that existed prior to the governorship election? It is distressing to hear stories of people chased down in their cars, dragged out, shot pointedly and repeatedly, and abandoned like animals in a forest.

Soon after his election, Governor Soludo swore to restore law and order in the state. And on the day of the inauguration of his government in March 2022, he made it clear he was mindful of the threat that insecurity posed to the socioeconomic development of the state. He said: “… the recent upsurge in criminality poses a great threat. My heart bleeds to see and hear about our youth dying in senseless circumstances. Every criminal gang—kidnappers, wicked murderers, arsonists, rapists, thieves—all now claim to be freedom fighters. Criminality cannot be sugar-coated. This must stop.”

Soludo said his government was determined to re-establish peace and security in the state, and that would be achieved through the collaborative efforts of all the people. Insecurity has a direct impact on economic development, a poignant point that Soludo underlined. He said: “Due to the protracted breakdown of law and order, businesses are relocating outside Igboland, with growing unemployment, and traders who used to come to shop in Onitsha, Aba, etc. are going elsewhere. Who is losing?”

What is driving insecurity in Anambra State might be more deep-seated and more multifarious than the governor and his officials might think. For example, the anger by youth might be a reaction to federal policies that have marginalised people in the South-East region for decades. It could also relate to lack of socioeconomic development, lack of jobs and industries, discriminatory policies and practices by the Federal Government that deny youth in the region the same opportunities that are accorded to their contemporaries in other parts of the country.

Before the security situation grows worse than it is now, Governor Soludo must aim to find enduring solutions in order to reduce or eliminate the tension, anger, and feelings of despair that have seized citizens of the state who have become targets of malicious attacks by “unknown gunmen”. Surely, the youth have genuine concerns over the way the Federal Government has treated people in the region comparative to the privileges rolled out by the Federal Government to pacify bandits, kidnappers, and Boko Haram terrorists in the North.

In the face of all these, the sociopolitical organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has done little or nothing to end indiscriminate killings of people in Anambra State and other South-East states, in the manner that Afenifere in South-West has done in their limited attempts to curb attacks by gunmen in the region. Worse still, governors of the South-East have been so undistinguished, so disinterested, and so backward in tackling insecurity in their region.

If South-East governors do not deal with insecurity beyond the lousy Federal Government response, no one else will intervene on behalf of the region. An Igbo proverb states that it is the person whose house is on fire who would have to raise the alarm first before neighbours rush to assist. In other words, South-East governors and Ohanaeze must collaborate and lead in formulating strategies to end impunity and callous killings by “unknown gunmen” who operate freely in Anambra and other states in the region.

In Soludo’s inaugural address, improvement in security, as well as respect for law and order took prime positions. Although eight months is not enough time to assess the extent to which he has achieved the extraordinary benchmarks he set for his government, particularly challenges relating to improvement in security, it is difficult to say whether Anambra people long tormented by criminality, hunger, poverty, health challenges, and infrastructure deficits are celebrating, yelling, complaining, swearing, mourning, or weeping. The answer lies in the future.