We’ve Taken Out 62 Criminal Camps In Anambra — Soludo

…Says Southeast lost heavily from sit-at-home; 45,000 shops now reopen on Monday

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA — The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, said on Wednesday that his administration has destroyed over 62 criminal camps in the state.

The governor also said the Southeast geopolitical zone lost heavily from the sit-at-home order declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) over the incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, with some people diverting their businesses and investments outside the zone as a result.

He added, however, that with the stoppage of the sit-at-home, over 45,000 shops reopened on Monday at Onitsha Main Market, with business activities at their peak and traders in jubilation.

Professor Soludo stated this while speaking with State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said that, in an attempt to stamp out criminality in the state and ensure it is secure, he set up a vigilante group called Agunechemba, as well as the anti-cult group and the anti-touting body, adding that the different groups are working collaboratively and very effectively.

He said: “When I assumed office, so far since I came into office, about 62 criminal camps have been dismantled in Anambra, and we’re not resting for one second. In Anambra, we pride ourselves on being the safest — if not, modestly, one of the safest — states in the country, and security is key.

“Last Christmas, everybody all over the state — it was as if we had a mass return, with heavy traffic all over the place. And that’s a celebration of the return of security of lives and property in the region.”

Asked whether the security situation in the state was the reason he visited the president, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) responded in the negative.

“No, not at all. We had quite several other things to discuss. I haven’t come to discuss security. Security, we’re dealing with — that’s our routine function.”

Fielding a question on what happened to those behind the 62 criminal camps and whether they were arrested and prosecuted, the governor said: “I don’t want to tell you the details of what happened to them. The important thing is that the 62 camps have been decimated, and they’re not there anymore — anywhere. We get on there and deal with them decisively. We can’t allow criminality to dominate our place.

“And even more recently, these criminals have held the Southeast region hostage for more than five years. Every Monday, there was a criminal, very debilitating, destructive Monday sit-at-home.”Schools — aside from the capital cities in the five Southeast states — had no sit-at-home on Monday, but the rest of the places were mostly under lock and key. This can’t continue, and we decided that this year must be the end. Enough is enough, and I’m happy that so far we’ve taken back our region; we’ve taken back our state.”

Asked to quantify the monetary loss, the governor said it was humongous, socially, economically, politically and so on.

According to him: “Well, there are several numbers people cite depending on where they come from and how they calculate their nebulous figures. The little I can tell you is that each day, you can imagine if you look at the economic size of the Southeast, and you have 365 days in a year.

“How many Mondays? How many weeks do you have — 52? And 52 days out of the 365, excluding weekends and Sundays, which are obviously work-free. Then you calculate the rest of it. Quite frankly, if you’re thinking in terms of those informal services that work Monday through Saturday, every Monday lost is about 20 percent of the work week.

“Twenty percent — schools shut down on Mondays. That’s 20 percent lost. You can calculate that: if in a year you lose 20 percent, if you cascade that through the economic front, you’re not just losing income at 20 percent, but you’re also losing opportunities for growth, because some other people are going to divert their businesses and investments elsewhere, because you are not open for business.

“And so you can compound the costs in various ways — socially, economically, politically — not just now, but also in the future. Therefore, for us, it’s something that just can’t go on if we value the future of our people. And I think now that they are open — the Main Market, more than 45,000 shops.

“You can imagine the largest market in West Africa getting shut one day a week. Just quantify that. And now that they are open, I went there on Monday last week. If you saw the joy of the people — tens of thousands of people there chanting and rejoicing that a new dawn is here this year. And this last Monday, they trooped out again in tens of thousands. In fact, when I went there, there were over 100,000 people; you couldn’t find space to even put your feet. We’re going to regenerate the Main Market; we’re going to regenerate it because it’s been run down so badly.

“All the parking lots there — they took them over and built shops all over the places. We’re going to breathe life back into it again and restore its pride of place as the premier market in West Africa.”

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