Soludo and his feast of blood

By Duru Uzodimma

It has become painfully clear that the true crisis in our politics and governance is no longer the failure of leadership alone but the complicity of the followers.

Our leaders are now mere reflections of a society that has normalized injustice, turned a blind eye to oppression, and found comfort in echoing the chants of impunity.

In The Trouble with Nigeria, Chinua Achebe wrote:

“The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.”

Today, I beg to differ. If Achebe were alive, perhaps he too would be compelled to reconsider.

The problem has metastasized – it is now deeply rooted in the people, in the blind loyalty of followers who justify every horror, who celebrate the slaughter of their fellow citizens under the guise of governance.

Anambra has become an open graveyard, a land where blood spills in a relentless cycle – first, from non-state actors who exploited a government’s inaction, and now from the government itself, desperate to appear competent as elections draw near.

In their frantic bid for quick fixes, they have abandoned justice for vengeance, ruling not with the wisdom of democracy but with the brutality of mob justice. Lives are now taken as carelessly as meat tossed into the fire for a lavish feast.

But perhaps the greatest tragedy is not the government’s bloodlust, it is the chilling applause that follows. On social media, voices that should question power now cheer its excesses.

They label every critic a “criminal sympathizer,” silencing dissent with threats and branding every opposition as an enemy of the state.

The innocent are condemned, not by fair trials or due process, but by the mere misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

For three years, we watched helplessly as crime engulfed our communities. The government stood idle, impotent, sipping champagne while assassins prowled the land unchecked. Political murders became routine.

Criminals took advantage of this void, and the very people entrusted with the safety of the state turned their backs, all while pocketing a staggering two billion naira monthly in security votes – a grotesque sum for a government that has done nothing but count corpses.

Now, with bloodstained hands, they seek to redeem themselves; not through justice, not through accountability, but through state-sanctioned executions disguised as governance. And the people – yes, the very people, have become willing enablers of this monstrous cycle.

“The murder of Hon. Justice Azuka, the second successive killing of a sitting lawmaker in the state within Governor Soludo’s three-year reign – was not just an isolated act of violence.

Likely another political assassination, it was the direct consequence of a government that has abandoned its duty, a regime that has emboldened killers through its failure to protect its own.

His death is yet another addition to a growing list of tragedies, yet instead of demanding justice, we are met with shameless excuses and vile attacks against anyone who dares to ask hard questions.

Why was this avoidable death allowed to happen? Why did it take so long, from December 2024 to February 2025 – for Hon. Azuka’s remains to be recovered?

And even then, can we truly be certain that what was recovered was his? These hard questions all point directly to the state, demanding that it take full responsibility for his death and bear the guilt of its failure.”

Just yesterday, my phone was rattled with distress calls about the unchecked brutality of politically backed militia groups masquerading as Agunaechemba and Udo-Ga Chi.

These enforcers of terror, emboldened by state sponsorship, now execute innocent citizens under the false pretense of safeguarding the state- without fair trials, without evidence without justice.

Their latest horror unfolded in Owerre Ezukalla, where they stormed the community to abduct and butcher a young boy, a victim chosen at random- except fate would reveal he hails from the governor’s own hometown of Isuofia.

Young Okoye is just one of many sacrificed on the altar of political ambition, another life wasted in the government’s reckless and bloody pursuit of “results.”

From Oba to Owerre Ezukalla and beyond, a grim pattern emerges. Communities are raising their voices not in praise of any noble fight against crime, but in horror at the state-orchestrated killings sweeping through the land. This is not governance. This is state-sanctioned murder.

What Anambra suffers today is not just the failure of one man in power, but the collective surrender of a people who have chosen to be ruled by fear instead of principles, by blind loyalty instead of truth.

And until we, the people, find the courage to break free from this spell, the feast of blood will continue – one victim at a time.

Duru Uzodimma is a displaced farmer from Unubi now in exile

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