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.