The Chairman of Anambra State Truth, Peace and Justice Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, has said that they have found out that there are two things that cause violence in Anambra State. He described the two causes as primary cause and spillover violence.
It should be recalled that shortly after his inauguration in 2022, the Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo had set up the Truth, Peace and Justice Commission with the aim to find out the cause of the violence in Anambra State and proffer solutions to it. Odinkalu was appointed the Chairman of the Commission.
Speaking to newsmen after submitting the Commission’s report to Governor Soludo, Odinkalu said that a lot of people used to think that the violence in Anambra was caused only by the IPOB/ESN.
According to the report by Arise TV, Odinkalu who is a former chairman of National Human Rights Commission said that the primary cause of violence in Anambra is cultism and other criminal gangs. He said that some of these criminal gangs have the backing of powerful people.
He said, “Our findings is that there are two causes of violence in Anambra State. There is the primary cause and spillover violence. Crimes caused by secessionist groups are spillovers. Those are mainly coming from Imo, and you know that Anambra has borders with Imo.”
He said that based on their findings, secession is not the only cause of violence in Anambra, but organized crime. He said that the places where IPOB and other secessionist groups are seen are fairly contained.
He continued, “Focusing on secessionist agitations as the cause of violence diminishes the problems in the South-East. The IPOB boys do not have the capabilities that people are ascribing to them. Organized crime has capabilities that are more than what the IPOB and ESN has. Most of these IPOB people ascribe crimes to have nothing but pump action guns.”
He said that some powerful individuals are profiting from crimes in the state. He said that these individuals purchase weapons for criminal gangs, and added that these criminals are also used during election seasons.
