Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has
expressed doubts that releasing Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB), will resolve the insecurity in the South-East,
believing that the current crisis has grown beyond Kanu’s influence and is now
driven by criminal activities, as reported by PUNCH.
The governor stated that the Biafran struggle has been
hijacked by criminals who exploit Kanu’s name to justify acts such as armed
robbery, kidnapping, and cultism and described these actions as no longer
connected to any genuine agitation but as organized crimes motivated by greed
and lawlessness.
According to Soludo, most of the criminals arrested in
Anambra in recent years are Igbo, although many are not native to the state and
highlighted how these groups operate from forests, targeting innocent citizens
and using Biafra as an excuse for their crimes, believing that their focus has
shifted entirely from liberation efforts to financial gain, making them enemies
of the very people they claim to protect.
The governor expressed concern that Kanu’s release
might not influence these criminal groups, as they have distanced themselves
from IPOB’s original goals and suggested that these groups are more interested
in wealth than in any ideological struggle, further complicating the security
challenges in the region.
“The so-called agitators have transformed into
organised criminal gangs. They hide in forests, kidnapping innocent citizens
for ransom, and they justify their atrocities under the pretext of Biafra.
Let us be clear this has nothing to do with any liberation movement.
Criminality has taken on a life of its own. These people have tasted bl*od, and
now, money is their motivation.”
“Even if Nnamdi Kanu is released today, I’m not sure
they would listen to him because what they now pursue is wealth, not
liberation,” he said.
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