It is no longer news that Anambra State has been overrun by kidnappers and cultists. It has got to a situation where people go out not knowing what to expect. Kidnappings have become an almost daily occurrence, while cult killings have come to be the norm.
Last week four people died in separate suspected secret cult attacks, but the most disturbing was the one that occurred meters away from two major police locations. The assailants were said to have “leisurely” driven away after the killing.
On July 26, the new Anambra State Police Commissioner, Nnaghe Obono Itam, paraded many kidnap suspects, who, he said, were behind some of the recent kidnap cases in the state. He assured the people of the state of his readiness to rise up to the challenge posed by the miscreants. That’s heartwarming.
But while the police are reacting to these developments, not a whimper has been heard from the number one citizen of the state, Governor Chukwuma Soludo. Not even after the weekend that recorded ten kidnap incidents and one death. Is the governor aloof?
While it may not be so, the feeling however persists among many in the state that he doesn’t seem bothered by the dire security situation in the state.
Everywhere in the civilised world, leaders usually speak out after the commission of heinous crimes, if not for anything, but to reassure the citizenry and commiserate with victims and their families. Soludo’s new attitude of keeping mum sends the wrong signals.
It’s indeed as though he’s washed his hands off the raging inferno that is insecurity.
After beginning strong in the early life of his government, Soludo appears to have taken on an I-don’t-care disposition.
We know he’s doing quite well in other spheres, especially in road construction, but then, dead people do not use the roads. If the spate of insecurity continues, that will be the case as no one will live to enjoy his roads and other infrastructure.
We really do not know if he has secret plans to combat crime and criminality, especially as such isn’t what is made public. But he should also endeavour to show empathy when his people suffer.
People are now performing certain functions outside the state as was the case with Flavour, the popular hip hop crooner. We have not seen people from other states leave their states to come celebrate in Anambra.
Recently, a high profile religious activity that would have been performed in Anambra wasn’t held because the embassy of the person coming to perform it advised him that Anambra was a high security risk. That is pretty embarrassing.
We are therefore, calling on our governor, for the umpteenth time, to wake up and address the deteriorating insecurity situation in his state head on.
Just as we stated in our penultimate editorial, the present situation needs drastic measures to be quashed. Soludo should tell criminals that the honeymoon is over. It is now or never!
