By Tony Okafor
The recent assault on a female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member by the Agunechemba Security outfit in Oba, Idemili South, has once again exposed the rot at the heart of Anambra’s security architecture.
That a security outfit conceived by Governor Chukwuma Soludo to protect Ndi Anambra could so quickly slip into infamy is proof that something is fundamentally wrong with its recruitment process, its leadership structure, and its operational philosophy.
Governor Soludo deserves credit for envisioning a home-grown security system to complement the overstretched federal agencies.
His desire was to build a robust first line of defence against kidnapping, cultism, and other violent crimes plaguing the state.
But when citizens become the victims of the very institution created to safeguard them, then it is clear the system has derailed. The brutality meted out to the female corps member is the peak of it all, and it must stop now.
The resurgence of crime in Anambra shortly after Agunechemba’s inauguration in January shows that the outfit, as presently constituted, is not the Soludo dream but its distortion.
Even more damning is the fact that a security chief in government once openly described members of Agunechemba as criminals—an indictment that must not be ignored, no matter the public relations gloss applied to it.
The swiftness of government’s condemnation of the brutality of the corps member, the suspension of the offenders, and the assurances of justice are commendable.
The police and the Governor’s wife, Mrs. Nonye Soludo, have also spoken strongly, condemning the act as dehumanizing, unacceptable, and totally at variance with Anambra’s identity as a hospitable and peaceful state. But condemnation is not enough.
There is need for structural change. Agunechemba has proved incapable of self-correction. Its slide into notoriety shortly after its formation points to deep-rooted flaws—chief among them, a compromised recruitment process that admits the untrained, the unfit, and in some cases, the unscrupulous. No amount of patchwork reforms will save it.
Governor Soludo must, therefore, summon the courage to disband the Agunechemba network and reconstitute a new security outfit that truly reflects his original vision.
Within the period of disbandment and reform, the police and other statutory security agencies should be adequately supported and funded to police the state effectively. What is worth doing is worth doing well, no matter how long it takes.
Anambra cannot afford a vigilante system that brutalizes rather than protects. Governor Soludo has shown visionary leadership in other areas of governance; he must now act decisively to rescue his security initiative from total collapse.
Disbanding Agunechemba and rebuilding from scratch is not an act of weakness but of courage. It is the only way to restore confidence, protect Anambra’s priceless image, and honour the social contract between state and citizen.
Ultimately, the primary duty of any government is the security and welfare of its citizens. Anything less is unacceptable .
UDO GA- ACHI
