Soludo: Igbo youths, not Fulani behind 99.9% of kidnappings in Anambra

By Ayox Ojo

Anambra governor, Chukwuma Soludo has dismissed claims that most kidnappings in Anambra State are being carried out by the so-called Fulani herdsmen. Soludo who dismissed the claim while speaking during a town hall meeting with Anambra indigenes in the Diaspora, held recently in the United States said contrary to the assertion nearly 100 per cent of cases of kidnappings in the past three years in Anambra were carried out by people of Igbo origin.

The governor said this has been confirmed by records of criminals and kidnappers arrested in the state since he became the governor.

“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 said.

He described the claim that Fulanis are behind kidnapping in Anambra as lies being pushed as propaganda.

That lie led our youths into kidnapping because it became the next lucrative job after ‘Yahoo’ and drug trafficking.

“Igbo are the ones kidnapping Igbo, they are the ones killing Igbo. All these camps are Igbo youths.

And by the way because I came with the same false narrative. The false narrative they gave us is Oh! the Fulanis, they’re invading our people, and they are now everywhere, they’re waiting for a whistle to be blown and they will take over.”

Soludo also appealed to Anambra indigenes in the diaspora to invest back home and contribute their skills and resources to its development.

He said: “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.

“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.”