Recently, criminals in Anambra and their associates have been on the run. Ikeugonna Eleke highlights the role of community leaders in mismanaging security in parts of the state.
During the yuletide, several incidences of armed robbery, killings and kidnapping for ransom occurred in Anambra State. Rising up to the occasion, the Government of Prof Chukwuma Soludo, in January this year, signed into law, the Homeland Security Act; a wide range of laws that seek to tackle the root cause of insecurity in the state.
The law, among other things, criminalizes native doctors who prepare protective charms for kidnappers, or get-rich-quick charms, also known as Oke Ite or magic pots. The law provides that any property found to have been used for harbouring kidnap suspects, or housing kidnappers without the owner revealing same to security agencies, will be forfeited to the State Government and demolished.
There are also provisions of the law which holds presidents general, traditional rulers, landlords and neighbours to account if they fail to disclose to government or security agencies the identities of people who live within their vicinity, who are involved in criminal acts. Hotels and other hospitality facilities are also advised to send the identities of lodgers to the State Government as a compulsory daily routine.
The law also brought into life, a new security outfit, Agunechemba, under a new security arrangement, Operation Udo Ga Achi, which comprises secular security agencies, including Police, Army, Navy, Civil Defence, DSS and of course, operatives of Agunechemba.
Since after the law came into operation, there have been a level of upheavals in many communities, with community leaders striving to sit up to avoid indictment. Videos circulating on social media from many communities have shown the employment of town criers to announce the mandatory registration of non-indigenes staying there. There have also been the announcements of registration for all native doctors practicing in communities. Currently, among native doctors, the fear of Soludo has become real, and many have started relocating out of their areas, while a few have already been arrested.
Among native doctors who have been arrested and interrogated are popular millionaire native doctor from Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area, Mr Chidozie Nwangwu, popularly known as Akwa Okuko Tiwara Aki; Eke Hit, a native doctor from Okija in Ihiala Local Government Area; and Mr Onyebuchi, who prides himself as a prophet, and popularly known as Onye Eze Jesus. All have been interrogated in Awka and taken to their shrines to ascertain the extent of their involvement in crime.
What is however more worrisome is the role of community leaders in insecurity in the state. Before the creation of Agunechemba, the Anambra Vigilante Group (AVG) used to be a community based security outfit employed by the leadership of communities, which majorly included the traditional rulers and presidents general. This leadership oversaw the recruitment, arming and payment of the operatives.
With the previously heightened insecurity in many places in the state, communities funded the procurement of pump action rifles, ammunition and others for them to operate. But recent developments have shown that in most communities, the wrong people were recruited in the AVG, or lack of wherewithal to fund their operations, leading the operatives to use the opportunity of the arms at their disposal to fend for themselves. A clear case of such are those of Enugwu-Agidi and Ukwulu Communities in Njikoka Local Government Area.
In Enugwu-Agidi, the recent arrest of a notorious kidnapper, Mr Chukwudi Tansi, has upset the community. The arrest has pitched the president-general of the community, Mr Ebuka Onuorah, against his traditional ruler, HRH Michael Okekeuche, as they accuse each other of being collaborators of the suspect who is said to be a member of the community’s vigilante outfit.
Onuorah who is known not to be on good terms with the monarch of his community, had first raised the alarm about his opposition to the recruitment of the bandit leader into the community’s vigilante, but expressed surprise that the monarch took Tansi in, and even made him the head of palace security. A cache of arms had been discovered in the suspect’s house during a search.
Meanwhile, reacting to this, the traditional ruler of Enugwu-Agidi Community, HRH Michael Okekeuche, has disowned the suspect. The monarch disowned the suspect, insisting that he was a member of the private security group of the president-general and had severally been used for various nefarious jobs.
Members of the Enugwu-Agidi Traditional Council, Mr Ifeanyi Ndulue, Press Secretary to the Traditional Ruler, and Mr Victor Okeke, the Cabinet Secretary, who briefed journalists in Awka on behalf of the monarch, said there was need to put the records straight.
‘His Royal Highness, Igwe Michael Chidozie Okekeuche is happy with the arrest, of the alleged kidnapper, Mr Chukwudi Tansi, in our community. The traditional ruler is calling for a thorough investigation into his arrest so as to unveil those he is working for. The Igwe is particularly happy that operatives have risen to the mandate of ensuring zero tolerance for crimes in the state and Enugwu-Agidi in particular. He thanks Prof. Chukwuma Soludo for his wonderful security framework in the state.’
In the same vein, same accusations erupted in Ukwulu Community in Dunukofia Local Government Area. kingpin, one of those who kidnapped a priest and collected ransom for his release, Mr Oliver Nweke, an indigene of Ebonyi State, but resident in Ukwulu turned out to be a Kidnapper.
Oliver who was arrested in the deep forest of Ukwulu, who has also taken operatives of Udo Ga Achi to where his large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered, was also said to have been recruited into the vigilante of the community before he veered off with his boys when funding from the President-General ceased coming.
In his confession, which was watched on a video circulating on the Internet, Nweze said: ‘I and my boys were employed by the President-General of Ukwulu Community. We were doing our job very well, until the President General stopped paying us. I and my boys did not know what to do, so we decided to use the arms given to us to help ourselves.
At first, we stopped the work since they were no longer paying, and when bad boys returned to the community, they called us back to come and start work, and when we came, all those boys ran away. So when they stopped paying us again, we decided to go into kidnapping.’
Though, there have been no official response from the Leadership of Ukwulu Community over the confessions, there are however arguments about how the inability of community leaders has aided insecurity in the state. Some indigenes of the state have applauded Governor Soludo for his proactiveness in the area of security, and also called for communities to take charge of their safety without every blame being dumped on the doorstep of the Governor.
A human rights activist, Comrade Echezona Okoli, said: ‘I’m very happy for the new security architecture in Anambra State, but what is particularly heartwarming are the confessions from some kidnap kingpins who have been arrested recently. I think it is not just about giving arms to street urchins to work as security men; it is about being able to earn their loyalty.
Any day they cease to be loyal to you, they may use the guns to fend for themselves. That is why we must always scrutinize the people we recruit into the security. That brings us to even these Agunechemba operatives that we see today, the Governor must set a mechanism in place that will deter them from moving from being people who secure the people, to being those who terrorize the people.’
Also, a lawyer and manufacturer, Mr Chris Chinedu Enemuo, in his own remarks, noted that the law recently launched by the Governor had given responsibility to the people, including communities, to participate in the safety of their localities.
He said: ‘The newly introduced Participatory Security Initiative, which includes various transactional components, has effectively integrated ordinary citizens into the broader community policing framework. The government has made considerable progress by involving the community in sustaining this policy model.
‘Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s approach to security in Anambra State appears to have rigorously identified the root causes of security challenges and the local factors contributing to them. This has enabled the effective deployment of human resources through initiatives such as bounty hunting and loyalty programmes, positioning Anambra’s homeland security legislation as a community empowerment tool, the people’s stick.
The traditional policing system is not left out, it plays a significant role in the initiative to foster a crime-free community through a monthly loyalty incentive of 10 million.
‘If from the left end, a community opts to undermine this initiative by aligning with opposing parties to orchestrate a façade of failure or exploit any unfortunate situation, such community would be revealing it’s irresponsibility, unproductiveness, and potential complicity in the broader insecurity challenges faced,’ Enemuo said.
