Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra says its administration has drastically reduced security threats in the state to the lowest level.
Speaking on Channels Television programme on Sunday, while assessing the government’s performance since he assumed office stated that gunmen no longer have the capacity to carry out deadly attacks as usual in the state.
“Giving where things were when we came, we are not saying that Anambra is 100% secured … but everybody in Anambra – the 8.5 million residents of Anambra can testify to you that insecurity in Anambra has come down to the barest minimum,” he said during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“Fifteen camps (run by gunmen) here (have been) decimated. Even yesterday (Saturday), some other places (where) they were gathering were decimated; we have degraded their infrastructure and I don’t think they have the capacity again to come with the kind of ferocity they had in the past.”
Anambra had been volatile to insecurity and its residents engrossed with fear as the state always witnessed attacks on a weekly basis before Professor Soludo took over the leadership mantle in the state.
In most cases, the assailants target police facilities and offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), among other government properties in the state.
Most of the attacks have been linked to members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its militant wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Governor Soludo, who insisted that the security situation has greatly improved, attributed the feat to the efforts of the security forces.
He thanked the security forces and the vigilante groups for their gallantry, as well as the residents for their cooperation in curbing crimes in the state.
“Anambra has been relatively quiet and peaceful, and we are pursuing this agenda,” said the governor. “I would dare to say that if we were to have the statistics over the last three months, I think Anambra will compare favourably as one of the safest comparatively.”
On the identities of those arrested in connection with some of the attacks in the state, he said, “Let me be clear about it; 100% of the people we have caught are Igbos. It is not about some people invading from somewhere; it is 100% Igbos on Igbos, that is the fact.”
