The myth that Fulani herdsmen are responsible for kidnapping in the South-East is nothing more than ethnic scapegoating, Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has said.
He revealed, in comments generously spiced in Igbo language, the true face of the insecurity plaguing Anambra State, challenging the widely held belief that Fulani herdsmen are behind the violence. According to Soludo, a staggering 99.9% of those arrested for criminal activities in the state’s forests are young men of Igbo origin.
Speaking in a widely circulated video during a meeting with Anambra indigenes in the United States, Soludo stated: “If we have arrested 100 criminals (gunmen) operating from the bush, 99.9% of them are Igbo youths.”
He emphasized that the narrative blaming Fulani herdsmen was false propaganda that misled many young men into the bush under the illusion of resistance. Over time, he said, what appeared to be a liberation effort morphed into a full-blown criminal enterprise.
Soludo explained that many of these youths shifted to kidnapping as internet fraud—locally known as yahoo-yahoo—began to yield diminishing returns.
“They claimed Fulani were invading, hiding in the forests, waiting to take over. Nobody asked the obvious—how do these ‘liberators’ survive in the bush for months? The answer is kidnapping—it’s the next profitable hustle after yahoo-yahoo.”
The governor further disclosed that this wave of criminality has earned a disturbing nickname: “Anambra business.” According to him, youths from even outside the state are lured into kidnapping rings after seeing the wealth flaunted by those who return from the bush.
“They recruit others and bring them into the bush. And when caught, they blame the Fulani. Let me be clear: 99.9% of those arrested are Igbo. They are kidnapping and killing fellow Igbos,” he stressed.
Soludo urged the diaspora to look beyond sensational narratives and confront the real issues fueling violence in the South-East.
Below are Soludo’s comprehensive comments on the crime situation in the South-East:
“If we have arrested any criminals (gunmen) who are operating from the bush, 99.9 % of them are Igbo youths. This things they were saying (apparently referring to Fulani herdsmen) that was part of the lies in the propaganda that was put together that they used to push these young people to enter into the bushes.
“They are into kidnapping because it is the next lucrative business after yahoo-yahoo had dulled. The next one they discovered is kidnapping. Youths, even those from other states, what they call it is “going into Anambra business.”
“Any one of these youths when he returns to their villages after buying a motor cycle from the business, he will recruit others to come and join the business, which is kidnapping. They will then take them to the bushes and when they’re arrested they will claim that Fulanis are responsible. Quote me correctly, 99.9% of the criminals and kidnappers we have arrested are Igbo youths. They’re the ones kidnapping Igbos, they’re the ones killing Igbos.
“All these camps are Igbo youths. And by the way, because They came with all these false narratives that the Fuanis are invading our lands, they’re camped everywhere and waiting for the whistle to be blown and then they will take over everywhere.
“Therefore we are the ones who are the liberators; we are going to chase them (Fulanis) out of our bushes. And nobody bothered to ask the question: these people going into the bushes to liberate you, how do they feed, one month, six months, one year? So those of you hear – and by the way, I am one of you before I decided to go over there.”
“As one of you, before I returned home, I ask you—be part of the solution, not an echo chamber for misinformation.”
