Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has commented on the recent agitations in the South-East region of the country. 

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Soludo stated that brute force alone cannot douse agitations in the region.

He further revealed that his government is setting up a truth and reconciliation commission as part of measures to tackle the rising levels of agitations in the region.

The Governor said; 

“A time comes when you realise that you cannot shoot an ideology with a gun. When you see it exclusively as a law enforcement matter, then you miss the point.

“We got to engage them; we got to engage everyone to really understand the root of this.”

Soludo also said the commission will look into the root causes of the agitations and document those killed in the past few years due to the tensions in the area.

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The governor further averred that threats are “existential” in nature and thus should not be papered over. He also called on everyone to help the government in proffering solutions to the challenges facing the nation.

Soludo added; 

“We don’t want to treat all these people as statistics.

“To the criminals, we are offering an olive branch to repent.

“So, to them, we are also saying ‘We are not condemning you, sin no more. Come out today, surrender those arms, we want to engage you back in society’

“This is something that we need to engage very seriously and in an open manner to engage everyone, believing that everyone has something to contribute”