BREAKING: Soludo Speaks on Impact of Fake Native Doctors: “23 Anambra Youths on Death Row in Indonesia”
Awka, Anambra state – Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra state has raised fresh alarm about the activities of fake native doctors in Anambra State, and their influence on youths.
The governor said fake native doctors and prophets deceive young people into taking many risks, including believing that they can evade security checks when smuggling drugs by using charms and talismans.
According to the governor, these native doctors and prophets deceive young people by claiming they can prepare charms that make airport scanners blind to drug trafficking.
“These young people would believe them, and today, many of our people are languishing in jail across the world,” he stated.
23 Anambra youths on death row in Indonesia
Speaking at a political gathering in Awka, the state capital, the governor revealed that 23 Anambra indigenes are on death row in Indonesia, an Asian country, over drug-related issues.
He said:
“Go to Indonesia, 23 Anambra youths are on death row there for drug-related offences.”
Soludo speaks on protest over an arrested “pastor”
Governor Soludo also responded to the protest staged by followers of a pastor detained by the Agunechemba security outfit.
The protesters insisted that the pastor was innocent of the allegations against him, claiming he does not prepare charms for criminals.
However, Governor Soludo disagreed with them.
“We don’t arrest anybody without being sure of what he has done – without having concrete evidence,” he said.
“Some of the self-proclaimed native doctors and prophets cannot even use their so-called powers to improve their own lives. Son of one of them, who is in detention, is a waiter in a hotel in Nnewi. If it were that simple, why didn’t he make his son a millionaire?
“That particular pastor also claimed that he is just a content creator. But he has used things like this to deceive our young people that you can become rich without doing any work, as long as you do money rituals.
“That is why you see young people who wake up in the morning and retire to beer parlours drinking, hoping to get rich later in life without hard work or preparation,” he added.
The governor said such beliefs were damaging the mindsets of youths in the state, and warned that any native doctor caught making deceptive claims would be arrested.
Anambra not opposed to traditional religion – Soludo
Soludo clarified that the state is not opposed to traditional religion but is determined to clamp down on those who promote dangerous practices in the name of spirituality.
He explained that what the state is against are people who are doing dangerous medicines and charms.
His words:
“We have always known those who are into traditional practices. They have things they believe in, and they were about the most upright people then.
“Those were people who believed that if you did the wrong thing, you could be killed by the gods of the land. But what these new crop of criminal native doctors are doing is deceit, and we will not allow that to continue.”
Soludo reaffirmed his administration’s resolve to continue the clampdown on promoters of Oke Ite and other get-rich-quick schemes.
Soludo bans clergymen from preaching in marketplaces
The governor announced that violators of the state’s noise pollution regulations would face a hefty fine of ₦500,000.
