In January 2025, Charles Soludo, the Anambra State Governor, launched Agunechemba (Operation Udo Ga-Achi or ‘Peace Will Reign’) under the Anambra State Vigilante Services (AVS) to restore peace to the state.
The 2000-man security operative was launched in high hopes that it would combine local intelligence with high-end technology to rid the state of insecurity. Some of its target criminal activities at the time included kidnapping, extra-judicial killing and even theft.
Since it had poached operatives from major security outfits like the police and the Civil Defence Force, it presented the outlook of an NPF-lite establishment with better equipment and intelligence.
According to the state’s 2025 budget, for instance, state vigilante operatives alone got a N130 million allocation for training and bio-data capture.
But the entity created to bring peace to Anambra has instead terrorised the state. Since its establishment, the outfit has been linked to multiple cases of brutality, extortion and extrajudicial killing.
Agunechemba vigilantes have averaged one major human rights violation or abuse each month of the seven months it’s been operating.
Here is a timeline of some major incidents documented by national and local media sources.
January 2025: Extortion and Killings in Owerre-Ezukala
Some weeks after its launch, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) accused Agunechemba of taking a leaf from the police’s book to steal from civilians.
According to the CSO, the vigilante group had set up checkpoints and were extorting an average of N200 from passersby.
In the same month, Intersociety said that operatives stormed Owerre-Ezukala and murdered three civilians — Malachy Chimaobi Iwuanyanwu, Odinkalu Chinonso and Kosisochukwu — on the spot.
The deaths of these natives were also reported by News Central Television.
At least twelve others, including corps members, were abducted, stripped half-naked and falsely accused of kidnapping and ritual killings.
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FEBRUARY 2025
The Igbo Women’s Assembly separately reported that Agunechemba operatives shot two young men at a construction site without giving them a chance to prove their innocence.
Nneka Chimezie, the president of the association, told Daily Post that the association wanted the governor to call the security outfit to order.
“We are happy about the cleansing and trying to fight crime in Anambra State. But for any innocent human being to die, I don’t know the type of crime they are fighting,” the IWA President said.
March 2025: Clash with Awada Landlords
In March, Anambra People Magazine, a local media outlet, reported that operatives of the vigilante group, working in conjunction with the Special Anti-Touting Squad (SASA), invaded the office of the Awada Central Landlords Association.
Per the report, the vigilante operatives destroyed properties worth millions of naira and abducted a female clerk and two vigilante operatives. The report stated that Vehicles, motorcycles, office doors and windows were smashed, and rifles, phones and other security equipment were carted away.
Image of the destroyed properties. Source: Anambra People Magazine
Another image of the destroyed properties. Source: Anambra People Magazine
It was reported that residents resisted the vigilantes’ attack because they operated like kidnappers. The combined squad had earlier arrested a woman on Orsumoghu Street of the community, alleging that her husband was a drug dealer.
April 2025: Murder in Nnewi
In April, the Anambra Police Command confirmed that Agunechemba operatives shot and killed a woman, Chiamaka Okeke, at Ibeto Junction, Nnewi North Local Government Area.
Victim’s Image. Source: Anambra People Magazine
Witnesses said the officers, attempting to clear traffic for their convoy, began firing into the air. One of the bullets struck Okeke, who slumped and was later confirmed dead at the hospital. The police announced a manhunt for the operatives responsible.
June 2025: Death of a 12-Year-Old
On Democracy Day in Onitsha South, a 12-year-old boy was gunned down by Agunechemba operatives, according to reports by local media organisations.
Witnesses said the boy had been sitting quietly on a culvert near a gutter in Nwangene when he was shot without provocation.
Video recordings provided by witnesses. Source: Anambra People Magazine
Residents immediately stopped the operatives from fleeing the scene in their vehicle.
In the same month, Chibuike Agina, a businessman, was lured into a confrontation over a false theft accusation and seized by Agunechemba officers.
Agina, in a video published by 247Reporters, recounted that the operatives took him to a secluded bush location, forced him to transfer N1.83 million from his bank account via a PoS, and coerced him on video to “confess” to being a thief. He was threatened not to report the ordeal.
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July 2025: Assault on Corps Member
On July 23, Agunechemba operatives were caught on video brutally assaulting Jennifer Edema, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, at a lodge in Oba, Anambra.
The officers accused corps members of being involved in “internet fraud”. In the video, Edema was stripped naked, beaten until her body was bloodied, and subjected to sexually degrading insults and threats of rape.
The perpetrators were five armed operatives. Independent reports by Vanguard stated that the operatives proceeded to beat the occupants of the lodge despite the victims producing valid NYSC ID.
Soludo’s security adviser later called this assault “unfortunate and unacceptable” and confirmed the perpetrators were arrested.
The post TIMELINE: Agunechemba Hasn’t Operated 1 Month Without Abusing, Violating or Killing Anambra Residents in 2025 appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.
