The effort of Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, to straighten the record regarding perpetrators of criminality in his state, is a step in the right direction.

It is important to know who are behind any crime committed in any state or even in private homes. In that regard, the argument on the identity of criminals, important as it may be, is of less significance to measures employed to counter the criminality. What is more important is the success of those measures. Whether the criminals are of Igbo stock or of Fulani stock, as the controversy rages, people of the state will be relieved if the perpetrators are stopped. The people of Anambra should therefore rally round their governor to rid the state of all criminals irrespective of their ethnic background. Soludo as governor should be presumed to speak from an informed position. In any event, he emphasized that his assertion was based on criminals arrested in the state. Certainly, the identity of those arrested can no longer be shrouded in mystery. At the worst, anyone disputing the fact presented by Soludo can only point out that perhaps, security agencies have not arrested the real criminals. Even that is more reasons for concerted approach to fighting criminality. There is no doubt that herdsmen of Fulani origin have featured in perpetrating crimes, such as disrupting farming activities, attacking farmers, even killing them; criminal extortion, kidnapping and other heinous crimes across the country, including igboland, but more pronounced in some parts of the country than others. Incidentally, some of these crimes have been traced also to non-Fulani perpetrators, indicating that efforts aimed at addressing the criminal activities should be focused on all violators, from any part of the country or outside.

Recently, Governor Soludo explained that criminal activities in southeast Nigeria are mostly perpetrated by persons of Igbo origin. Addressing Anambra state stakeholders at a townhall meeting in Maryland, United States, the governor declared that kidnappers and other criminals that have been arrested in the state since he assumed office are Igbos. The governor attributed the pervasive criminal activities in the southeast to “the so-called liberators hiding in the forests”, stressing that they are “homegrown criminals feeding fat on blood money”. The governor stated this against widely-held notion linking Fulani bandits to the rampart kidnapping. He stated that 99 percent of the crimes are committed by people of Igbo origin, raising concerns among some stakeholders who accused the governor of grandstanding.

There’s no denying the fact that the southeast region has witnessed unabated atrocities by criminal elements for too long amid the tension occasioned by the activities of separatist group under the aegis of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN). Therefore, it is probable that the prolonged violent agitation in the southeast has bred opportunistic actors who engage in wanton criminality, part of which is incessant kidnapping for ransom. It is precisely on account of this that attribution of insecurity in the southeast to non-indigenes ought to be perceived as a non-issue. Governor Soludo’s assertion also deserves respect, given that he has access to security or extraordinary information to which ordinary citizens have no access.

Perpetrators of criminal acts ought not to wear a toga of ethnicity to be considered reprehensible, particularly in a region that has featured as a theatre of insecurity. By asserting that criminals of Igbo origins hide under the guise of liberating indigenes from Fulani herdsmen to perpetrate kidnapping and other forms of criminality, Governor Soludo as the chief security officer of Anambra State was speaking from the position of credible intelligence. While some stakeholders who are no less concerned about the state of insecurity in the southeast are uncomfortable with Soludo’s declaration, safeguarding the interest of the region should be paramount to everyone, who should consider the information as wake-up call that demand commitment to vigilance and shared responsibility.

Profiling of criminals on the basis of ethnicity counts for little in addressing the challenge of grinding insecurity across the country. Narratives around worsening insecurity across the country suggest that ethnic profiling of criminals has become a potent weapon for obfuscating the underbelly of state failure and thus merely serve to accentuate the abdication of responsibility; and regrettably so, for political actors to mask their failure with regards to dealing with the hydra-headed monster. Importantly, Governor Soludo should demonstrate accountability through unwavering commitment to actions that will drastically curtail the menace that has festered under his watch. He can make a huge difference in changing the narrative of insecurity in the southeast by putting in place measures that will rid Anambra State of criminality considering his knowledge of the identities and locations of the perpetrators. Governor Soludo and other governors of the southeast should realise that tackling criminality and insecurity headlong, irrespective of the ethnic origins of the perpetrators, is a matter of paramount importance.

State governors, particularly those of the southeast, should undertake introspection in addressing security in their respective states, in the light of the issue raised by their Anambra State counterpart, who also said that most of the criminals come from one or two neighbouring south east states. State governors should be held accountable for the security of lives and properties which is the true essence of the office of governors as the chief security officers of their respective domains. What Nigerians expect from political leadership is adequate protection for their lives and properties. Criminals should be apprehended and prosecuted regardless of the motivation driving their nefarious activities or their ethnic colouration. The laws on crimes and specifically with regards to banditry and kidnapping should be implemented to the letter. Governors should make adequate provisions for incentives and logistics support to motivate security personnel under their immediate jurisdictions, and demand that security agencies under the control of the federal government be held to account, while they press hard for state police that will be within their control.