Anambra dismisses eight Agunechemba operatives over assault on corps member
The Anambra State Government has sacked eight operatives of the Agunechemba Security outfit for brutally assaulting and publicly stripping a female corps member, Jennifer Elobor.
Agunechemba is the name of Anambra State’s security outfit, established by the Anambra State Homeland Security Law, 2025.
It operates as a state-level security command and is defined in the law as the “security outfit of Anambra State”.
Ken Emeakayi, the Special Adviser to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Community Security, announced the dismissal at the agency’s headquarters in Awka on Wednesday.
He said the operatives would be handed over to the police for prosecution.
According to Emeakayi, the officers had been chasing suspected cultists on Tuesday when they attacked the corps member, an act he described as “totally outside the mandate of the agency and utterly condemnable.”
“The Soludo administration will not tolerate any form of unprofessionalism, brutality or abuse of office by security operatives. Any officer found guilty of misconduct will face immediate dismissal and prosecution,” he said.
Despite pleas from the victim’s family and officials of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for a quiet resolution, the state government insisted on a full investigation and accountability.
Emeakayi added that the government had paid the victim’s medical bills, replaced her damaged laptop and phone, and issued a public apology to her family, the NYSC, and the general public.
He noted that the incident would serve as a turning point in reforming the outfit.
“This government is committed to professionalism, accountability and respect for human rights in all security engagements,” he stressed.
Governor Soludo launched Agunechemba (Operation Udo Ga-Achi, or Peace Will Reign) in January 2025 under the Anambra State Vigilante Services (AVS), promising a 2,000-man force that would combine local intelligence with advanced technology to tackle insecurity.
Its targets included kidnapping, extra-judicial killings and theft.
The outfit drew operatives from the police and Civil Defence Force, giving it the outlook of a well-equipped, police-style establishment.
But weeks after its launch, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) accused Agunechemba of extorting money from residents at illegal checkpoints and, in one case, killing three civilians in Owerre-Ezukala.
