The governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo on Wednesday expressed how outraged he was after viewing the video of how the state’s security outfit, Agunechemba Vigilante Group, brutalised a female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Jennifer Elobor, who was stripped by the operatives, stating that he could not imagine any of his four beautiful daughters being so dehumanised.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that the incident occured at the corps members’ lodge in Oba, a community, Idemili South Local Government Area of the state.
Fielding questions on Arise News Prime Time programme, a visibly empathetic Governor Soludo said whatever the crime, nobody deserved to be so treated, adding that some restitutions had been made to her and her other colleagues. He vowed that the full weight of the law would be brought on the arrested and suspended operatives who he said acted contrary to their standard operating procedures (SOP).
Grateful for the opportunity to clarify the issue, the former Central Bank Governor said the incident actually happened July 23, 2025.
According to him, “What happened on July the 23rd, and I want to emphasise this that this incident happened on July 23rd, almost a month ago. Coincidentally, it’s coming out on social media a month after.
“We are very law-abiding people. Rule of law and security of lives and property happen to be our number one agenda. That’s the number one in our five-pillar agenda and our people swung into action immediately this was brought to the attention of our Homeland Security team, and those guys were arrested instantly and then the victim was approached and some restitution instantly made.
“The briefing I got was that her phone was damaged, and some others’ phones were damaged in the process, and they were all made well; there were some restitutions to that effect. They were taken care of medically. And then those guys were apprehended; first suspended, and the investigation ongoing”.
He said though there was need to hear both sides of the case, he however insisted that “But whatever the matter, I thought that was quite despicable. The scene that I saw on video, I was quite outraged; whatever, because I have got four beautiful daughters, and I couldn’t imagine that happening to any of my daughters, whatever the crime. Whatever the thing is, nobody deserves to be treated that way, under no circumstance whatsoever.
“If there were criminals or suspected criminals or whatever thing, you arrest them, and we prosecute them through due process. It’s not going to have these brutal beatings, and so on and so forth. That’s not who we are. We’ve condemned that in strongest of terms, and of course, the due process of law would take its course”.
Governor Soludo disclosed that initially, Elohor’s family were not keen on litigation but later changed their minds.
“I understand initially that the parents or the family of the victim was quite reluctant to go for any prosecution or further taking up the matter. For whatever private considerations, they didn’t want that to go forward, but finally, this has now come up. We still have to do the needful.
“Just recently, in fact, I just received a letter today dated yesterday from the NYSC director in the state giving me a summary of what had happened and so on and so forth and now indicating that the family wants the matter to go forward and that’s welcome. Like I said, we are people of the rule of law. Even as a person, I’m always for rule of law. The law must take its course regardless of who is involved”.
On the effect the incident must have had on the brutalised corper, Governor Soludo said “And as for the lady, in fact, even today, my wife called her. We’re getting in touch with her. Like, I said, I have four wonderful daughters. I wouldn’t wish this to happen to any one of them.
“I would imagine the trauma, the psychological trauma that these people must be going through, and we’ll do everything that we can to bring calmness to the corpers, to bring succour to the lady, and the those involved, and reassure everyone that we’re all for the security of everyone. Everyone is assured of his or her security in Anambra State”.
And to forestall a reoccurrence, the governor said, “Let’s be clear. The first point to say is that the members of the Agunechemba have been undergoing trainings and trainings and retraining, and so on. That’s why we have also issued code of conduct to them. They have standard operating procedures in terms of their code of conduct and how they behave and how they shouldn’t behave”.
He however noted that some excesses like the present case cannot be ruled out, just like anywhere all over the world where you have cases of police brutality.
Arguing that the security outfit is wok in progress, Governor Soludo asserted that “Every human institution of such nature, especially people with arms, once in a while, everywhere, you’ll find some excesses, and the critical thing is that you have mechanisms in place to deal with excesses.
“It’s not, oh, if this happens, once you notice one thing, then the entire system should be proscribed. If we find that government in Nigeria is not working well, the response will be to bring back the colonialists because we haven’t done as well as possible. I think that argument is defeatist, in my view”.