By Okechukwu Onuegbu

Director, Special Anambra Anti-Touting Squad (SASA), Hon. Solomon Chukwuebuka Onwuemene, Wednesday, said that governor Chukwuma Soludo was willing to rehabilitate, reintegrate and employ those who have genuinely quitted touting and other forms of crimes.

Onwuemene, who disclosed this in an interview in his office at Awka, Anambra State capital, explained that the State governor had never discriminated against people in terms of employment and empowerment especially in one-youth-2 skills empowerment programmes.

According to him, the agency was poised to wipe away touting, including one chance syndicate, kidnapping, pickpocketing, illegal revenue collections, among other forms of crimes with a view to creating enabling environment for businesses to thrive, liveable and prosperous State.

The agency, according to him, previously focused at some flash points such as focused as Onitsha, Nnewi, Ihiala and their environs due to high impact of activities of touts in the area but had consistently increased their tentacles to other parts of Anambra State in accordance with manpower.

"We want the citizens to assist us with positive information that can help us into identifying touts and rehabilitate or prosecute them accordingly. If you cover them today, you may become their victims tomorrow. So it is better you expose them to be free and free our society from crimes.

"Luckily, Mr governor has empowered us to rehabilitate them, reintegrate them back to society or help them get good jobs. We have done this and still doing it. We have also ensured that to be prosecuted have been prosecuted as well.

"The law backing us also empowered us to arrest and prosecute illegal gathering of unrecognised people. If you have land issues with anyone, kindly take the person to court instead of threatening or using touts to unleash mayhem on them. and gather people to fight or your," he stated.

One cannot understand how many of these Soludo groups exist in Anambra state.

Right from the headbridge, there are those young people wearing black or yellow Tshirts with Solution inscribed on the back. You find them picking up everyone in the name of agberos. They extort bus drivers. The same goes for that Uga-Idemmili axis, with touts wearing solution just after Dozy Petrol station.

Soludo should please help us control the activities of these men, as they use extra judicial means to harm citizens.

The only reason Igbo hate Soludo is because he called out the lies from their so called messiah Peter Obi. Facts