Following the passage of a new security law by the Anambra State House of Assembly on Thursday, there have been reactions and concerns regarding the suitability, viability, and sustainability of the law. The Anambra State Homeland Security Law 2025, was passed into law on Thursday and is expected to come into effect on Friday, January 17, 2025, while the governor inaugurates the new security outfit, Agunechemba, on Saturday, January 18.
The law introduced at plenary for the first time on Thursday, received expeditious and an accelerated hearing, moving from the first to the second, and third reading before it was passed without any break. Justifying this acceleration with the bill passage, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Somto Udeze said that the urgency of the security situation in Anambra State required such exigency. However, in exactly two months, Governor Chukwuma Soludo would have been governor of Anambra for three years. Yet, he waited for the election year to begin to do something about the raging insecurity in the state which has been on from his first day in office on March 17, 2022.
An Anambra State stakeholder who prefers to be anonymous said that the law was rushed and doesn’t appear to address any serious issue. “I think the law lacks depth. Why would the House rush the first, second, and third reading of a document they didn’t read?” It would appear he was not alone, as many others also wondered how the law might have been properly digested before passage by the House of Assembly. Furthermore, it would be recalled that the last time the House expedited action on the Anambra State Electoral Law 2024, which was also introduced and passed the same day in the House, the law later came back at least two different times for various amendments, even before it was used.
A UK-based Anambra indigene who had previously worked in the House of Assembly said that the solution to insecurity in Anambra is not creating new laws. “Churning out laws without a clear implementation plan is not in any way the solution to the insecurity menace we face in the State,” Mr. Chuka said, insisting that the House of Assembly has not shown impressive performance in terms of implementing laws it has passed in the past.
Seasoned lawyer and former two-term Anambra State legislator, Rt. Hon. Barrister Chugbor Enwezor, has also taken a swipe at the new law. “Okite and Ezenwanyi practices no matter how objectionable they could be to many of us are simply religious practices and belief systems guaranteed under the constitution and to my mind, cannot be legislated against insofar as they are not carried on in such manner that constitute an infringement on the rights of fellow citizens. In Churches, prosperity preaching predominates and some Churches even require their members to make some financial sacrifice or other sacrifices that they are told will open the door to financial prosperity in their lives. We must come to terms with the boundary between beliefs and practices that are at variance with the constitution and the laws of the land”, Barrister Enwezor said. Buttressing his point, he cited the relevant section of the constitution to show that such laws about okite and ezenwayi contravenes the constitution. “Section 38 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides: 38 (1) Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom (either alone or in community with others and in public or private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teachings, practice and observance,” This provision of the constitution, Barrister Enwezor said, “is the crux of the matter.”
Section 18 (1) of the Anambra State Homeland Security Law 2025 states that “Any person who under the practice of okite or ezenwanyi or any other guise, administers any substance or charm on or for any other person for the commission of any offence or for accumulation of wealth by supernatural means other than by any known lawful means of livelihood or who publicly propagates the accumulation of such wealth other than by any known lawful means of livelihood, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of 6 years with an option of fine of N20 million or both.” Sections 19 and 20 also dealt with offenses involving okite or other religious-related practices that the law intends to checkmate. Section 20 of the law prescribed a jail term of 25 years with no option of fine, for any sacrifice involving human parts.
Businessman and stakeholder in the leisure industry in Anambra State, Chief Nkala Iyke, has reacted, wondering why politicians are looking for “unexplainable wealth.” According to Nkala, “I think the politicians whom we all know their take-home should explain their extravagant lifestyle that has caused the youths of today to believe in get-rich-quick syndrome.”
Okey Chidolue, Doctor of Jurisprudence and a former Director at Nigeria’s Ports Authority, said the law failed to deal with any specific state security framework. “In my considered opinion, this law did not deal with specific State Security Framework, rather, it dealt with narrow Crime Prevention Initiatives. For example, what would Agunechemba operatives do when a citizen is kidnapped? I had expected the law to empower Agunechemba to take over any kidnapping negotiations,” Dr. Chidolue said.
The Anambra Homeland Security Law 2025, will be as useful and successful in meeting its intended need if it is consistent with the Constitution of Nigeria, and also if the people of Anambra embrace it as their expressed wish. Already, the Anambra State House of Assembly has missed an important part of domesticating the law and giving ownership to the people through public hearings at the committee stage of the bill, before passage. For now, it is left to be seen what becomes of the new law and the new security outfit.
Ebuka graduated with a second-class upper-division degree in Political Science from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. He furthered his education by obtaining a Master's Degree in Political Science with a specialization in Government and Development Studies from Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Nigeria. His academic background and professional experience have equipped him with a deep understanding of political dynamics and governance issues.
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