Former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has urged Igbo people not to attack Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State for saying that 99.99 per cent of the kidnappings in Igbo land are carried out by Igbo people.

Soludo made the claim at a town hall meeting with Anambra indigenes in the Diaspora, held at the Metro Points Hotel in New Carrollton, Maryland, United States.

He said, “99.99 per cent of kidnappers and other criminals arrested in the state since I assumed office three years ago have been Igbos.”

The governor described as a “dangerous and misleading narrative” the claim that Fulani herdsmen perpetrate the killings in Igbo land.

He said, “It is not Fulani herdsmen, but homegrown criminal elements terrorising the South-East.”

According to him, many of those who claim to be “liberators” hiding in the forests are, in reality, Igbo youths involved in violent and lucrative criminality for “personal enrichment.”

He said, “Let’s stop deceiving ourselves. Ask yourselves: how do these so-called liberators survive in the forests for months without local support? Who feeds them?

“In my three years and three months in office, nearly every kidnapper and armed criminal we have apprehended is Igbo. Igbos are kidnapping and killing fellow Igbos— not Fulani herdsmen. Anambra belongs to all of us. Our progress is a shared responsibility.”

When a video showing the governor making the statement went viral on Tuesday, many Igbo people attacked him.

However, Shehu Sani urged such individuals to approach the police to provide the names of those involved in criminal activity so that their ethnicity can be verified.

He said on X, "Instead of attacking Soludo for his revelations, why not ask the Police to release the comprehensive names of persons involved in acts of criminality in Anambra state in the last four years so that their ethnicity can be verified."

ASA