Resurgent insecurity in Anambra and the governorship election

In Anambra state, insecurity seems to grow every time an election approaches. This is a discernible and unsettling pattern. The Anambra state governorship election is up around late 2025, which is approximately a year away. As the election approaches, kidnappings and other violent crimes increase, contributing to the ongoing situation of insecurity. It’s now a perfect correlation that can be seen and examined to propose remedies.

The year 2024 is painting a very different image from 2023, which was quite calm, especially near the end of the year when there was only one incident at Uga during Christmas. As the months get closer to the guber election of 2025, insecurity is increasing once more.

If the state’s elections coincide with insecurity, it indicates that politicians and their agents are the ones responsible. Furthermore, the government cannot attempt to propagate insecurity while actively combating it. Given that governments exist primarily to ensure the safety and well-being of their citizens, doing so would be foolish and unhelpful.

Going by this assumption, politicians who are desperate and use criminals to win elections before, during, and after appear to be at it again. The people who commit violent crimes in Anambra state are the UGM, ritualists, cultists, and others. They collaborate with politicians in their desperate attempts to rig elections to win at any cost, which results in apathy and the diversion of the people’s mandate to the riggers.

Politicians have an abhorrent and reprehensible ability to use violence and illegal activity to win elections. As they do this, the government is compelled to devote greater resources to combating insecurity; money intended for salaries, social amenities, and other necessities will have to be diverted to combat insecurity and uphold law and order.

That’s not where it ends. Rich people in the state are discouraged from returning home and making investments because of the pervasive sense of insecurity. In addition, residents of Anambra state are moving to Asaba, Ogun state, Abuja, the coast of West Africa, and other locations.

Anambra is missing out on all of this, while the economy of the areas their wealthy sons and daughters flee to prosper and cash out. Ndi Anambra, for instance, are rapidly developing Asaba because they find comfort and security there. Because of the desperate politicians in Anambra who will stop at nothing to seize control of the state and be able to allocate its riches as they may, many Anambra residents now relocate there with their families instead of remaining in Anambra state.

Nigerian politics in general and Anambra specifically are following this hazardous trend. The majority of politicians are career politicians who do not have another forwarding address. Those who have succeeded as well as those who failed in business are turning to politics to survive. They are battling for control over the riches of Anambra state to use the same for revitalising their businesses.

Therefore, to these politicians, politics is mostly about achieving personal goals rather than serving the public interest. Development is likewise a secondary concern for these politicians, whose main concern after assuming power is how to maintain their position of authority. Funds intended for development are diverted for reelection, retirement into luxury, and godfathering roles to their cherry-picked successors, to ensure an unending supply of funds from state resources to them.

This has been the shameful pattern in Anambra politics, to which the state owes its relative underdevelopment until Chukwuma Soludo became governor and started a fundamental reset that the politicians vehemently oppose. Rather, they would prefer a governor who will share the state’s resources and open the coffers, leaving schools crumbling, growth stalled, and healthcare devoid of physicians, nurses, and drugs.

Elections should typically be decided based on ideas and performance records of the incumbents, as politics is typically a contest of ideas. But ideas and performance have little or no room in Nigerian politics, especially in Anambra. Politicians would rather take advantage of the electoral umpires, especially those who oversee election security and declaration of results to rig the results.

Ultimately, the state or country is forced to operate under a so-called democratic system without holding a true election, which results in the placement of grossly incompetent individuals in important posts. These are people who have grabbed the mandate of the people and run with it. Politicians from Anambra have a history of shady dealings and notoriety, but what worries the most is how they intend to use insecurity to rig elections and cement their hold on power—do or die.

This is a passionate plea to the government about the complete deployment of tech and specialised operatives to the fight against crime, and also a plea to the desperado-politicians who would not hesitate to ruin Anambra state to gain political power. Politicians ought to aspire to be like statesmen who care more for future generations than the next election.

The blood these politicians are spitting through the criminals they have armed and sent into the field is calling out to God for retribution, and God will hear and respond when the time is right.

It is equally necessary to discuss how full deployment of tech can reduce the security concerns in the state and the country, while applauding the Soludo government for its enormous security strides and urge the governor not to relent or be deterred. What I recommend is to have the state under full satellite-like coverage throughout, round-the-clock monitoring of all main routes from a covert central source, and fast response squads stationed at all major entrances and exits as well as inter-LG roads, all linked by communications.

In this manner, any incident occurring anywhere in Anambra state can be quickly observed and reported, and the area can be sealed off until the offenders are located and apprehended. The project will cost billions and will require Anambra billionaires to contribute to the development and implementation of the mother security architecture. It is simple and achievable and something similar is already in Edo and accounting for the state’s very low insecurity rating.

Lastly, may the politicians of Anambra choose the politics of ideas above the politics of bitterness. They must give Soludo the freedom to fully carry out the excellent plan he has painstakingly crafted to revitalise Anambra and restore prosperity and livability to the state. In just two years and a few months under Soludo’s leadership, Anambra state is already transforming for the benefit of Ndi Anambra.

No well-meaning people play politics with security. Anambra politicians shouldn’t.

Dr. Law Mefor, an Abuja-based forensic and social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought. He can be reached via [email protected]; Twitter: @Drlawsonmefor.