The Anambra State Police Command has refuted a newspaper report alleging that the State recorded a total of 14 cases of political assassinations between 2022 and 2024.
The Command’s image maker, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, made the rebuttal in a statement on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, describing the report as misleading and unfounded.
“The Command wishes to categorically state that this claim is not only false, misleading, and unfounded, but also a product of the writer’s imagination.
“Ordinarily, the Command would not have responded to such baseless allegations. However, for the sake of public confidence, relative peace, and the safety currently being enjoyed not only in Anambra State, but across the South-East region, it has become necessary to set the record straight.
“It is, therefore, important to note that while the State has recorded some security incidents, these incidents were not targeted at any individual, tribe, social status, or political assassinations as mischievously claimed. Rather, they were attacks perpetrated by criminal elements hiding under the guise of self-styled agitators, common enemies of the State and other non-state actors whose activities are being consistently confronted and dismantled by security agencies.
“To further stress this publication as malicious, and mischievous, the places mentioned in the publication as supposed high-risk Local Government areas for election not to hold which include Ihiala, Ogbaru, Nnewi South, Orumba North, and Onitsha North were where the recently concluded non-violent Anambra South Senatorial and State House of Assembly bye-elections took place respectively in the State.
“The Command, in collaboration with sister security agencies, has remained proactive and relentless in addressing such threats. Our operations have significantly reduced violent crimes across the State and Anambra remains one of the most peaceful States in the South-East,” the statement said.
The Command urges residents to continue to partner with security agencies by providing credible information to sustain the peace and security of the State.
Meanwhile the State Commissioner of Police, Ikioye Orutugu, has urged media practitioners to avoid sensational publications capable of creating unnecessary fear or misrepresenting the security situation in the State.
