Anambra State Governor Professor Chukwuma Soludo has challenged the prevailing narrative that Fulani herdsmen are responsible for the rising wave of kidnappings and violent crime in the Southeast.

Speaking to Anambra indigenes at a town hall meeting in Maryland, Soludo asserted that nearly all the criminals apprehended in his state are, in fact, local residents rather than outsiders.

“The so-called liberators hiding in the forests are homegrown criminals feeding fat on blood money. They come under the guise that they are the ones protecting you from Fulani herdsmen,” the governor declared.

He went on to question the logistics of the militants’ activities: “They live in the bushes for months, but no one has ever asked how these so-called liberators survive in the forest. They have to feed, who is paying for their services, don’t they have needs?”

Soludo, who marked three years and three months in office this week, provided startling figures to underscore his point: “In my three years and three months in office, 99.99% of the kidnappers and other criminals we’ve arrested are Igbo. Let’s stop the lies. Igbos are kidnapping and killing fellow Igbos, not Fulani.”

His remarks appear aimed at dispelling what he termed “a false narrative” that Fulani herdsmen have taken refuge in the region’s forests to carry out terror attacks. The governor’s stance has ignited debate both within Anambra and among the wider Southeast community. In response, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) issued a statement on Monday, contending that the governor’s administration has “shielded jihadist herdsmen since 2022” and accusing it of transforming Anambra into a “ranching-compliant” state at the behest of the Federal Government. The rights group warned that this policy risks placing the state “on a keg of jihadist gunpowder.”

Intersociety insists that Fulani herdsmen are indeed operating in the secluded parts of the Southeast, a claim that Soludo firmly rejects. As tensions grow over public safety and the true identity of those behind the region’s violent crimes, calls for an independent inquiry are mounting. Some community leaders have urged both state and federal authorities to collaborate on transparent investigations into kidnapping and banditry, insisting that accurate intelligence is crucial to restoring public confidence.