By Jude Michael
The Special Adviser to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Community Security, Prince Kenneth Emeakayi, has cleared the air on the news making the rounds in some sections of the media that the Anambra State Government has banned the Anambra State Vigilante Service Group (AVG).
Emeakayi, who stated this in office in Awka, while fielding questions from newsmen, stated that the Government of Anambra State only changed the name and identity of the group to the newly established Agunechemba Security Outfit.
Prince Emeakayi noted that the state law establishing the Anambra Vigilante Group (AVG) in 2014 had been repealed, adding that the only legal security outfit mandated by the Anambra State Government to operate at the local government areas and community levels remained the Agunechemba Security Service officially unveiled by Gov Soludo in January, 2025.
He said the government only banned the name, Anambra Vigilante Group (AVG), its identity and way of operation, and not the employees themselves as being wrongly reported by some media houses.
In his words, ‘For clarity, repealing of the law that established AVG doesn’t mean stopping the security employees with valid means of identification from operation,’ Emeakayi clarified.
According to him, the office of the Security Adviser to the Governor on Community Security headed by him did not ban AVG operation.
‘The true story is that what we had earlier in Anambra State was AVG with a law enacted by the State House of Assembly and signed by the then Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, but now the Anambra State Homeland Security Law, 2025, under Section 39, has repealed the AVG Law, meaning that the state can no longer have two laws at the same time and on the same subject matter. What we have now, according to the new Law, is “Agunechemba Security Outfit”.
He further cited Section 38 of the same new Law which stated that ‘’Every existing vigilante unit in the state, at the command of this law, shall continue in operation but shall transit from AVG to Agunechemba with proper documentation and licenses’’.
The security expert emphasized that they did not want to see any vehicle branded with AVG logo anymore or security employees wearing T-shirt or face-cap with AVG inscription anywhere around Anambra State, adding that Agunechemba was the new security outfit duly recognized at the moment in the state.
‘Agunechemba’s aim is to sanitize the state by targeting “quacks”, criminal native doctors, and individuals using magic or illegal means for wealth (e.g., Yahoo Plus), noting that It empowered security agencies to combat crime and allowed the state to seize property used as bases for criminal activities, including those harbouring child beggars.
In the same vein, Emeakayi said they were not stopping any private security company with proper documentation from operating in the state but rather were carrying out all those changes to checkmate infiltrations, stating that the name, AVG, had been hijacked by criminals due to improper documentations.
He equally noted that they were doing that to protect life and property of Ndi Anambra and in line with Gov Soludo’s vision of making Anambra a destination hub of Nigeria by 2070.
On the issue of Agunechemba Security Outfit owing their employees, he said Gov Soludo always paid all the workers on the Anambra State Government’s payroll on or before the 25th of every month, stating that the issue of non-remuneration of security operatives in Anambra State emanated from one community (name withheld), where the traditional ruler and the President-General were having supremacy battle but that the issue had long been resolved.
He concluded that the only time their salaries were delayed was whenever some operatives absconded from duty and there was need for them to update their records and submit them for payment.
