Anambra Youths Declare War on Roadside Criminals, Touts and Hoodlums

By Emeka Odogwu Emeka and Izunna Okafor

Days of touting and other criminal activities may be over in Anambra State as youths under the aegis of 'Youth Volunteer' have pledged fight to restore peace and sanity in the state.

The group said it would assist the state government and security agencies to sanitize every corner of the state and get rid of touts that had tormented the state in the  past.

Addressing newsmen in Onitsha, the commercial hub of the state on Tuesday, leader of the group, Chukwuma Okpalaezeukwu said youths under the group would specialize on traffic, surveillance and monitoring activities in the state.

He said their resolve was in response to Governor Charles Soludo's pronouncement on touting and other criminal activities in the state and in solidarity to the marching order of the state's Commissioner of Police, CP Echeng Echeng."

He said "We the Anambra Youths Volunteers hereby declare our resolve to assist the state government and the security agencies in checking these youths' excesses l. 

"We will end all criminal activities. No more snatching of handbags, phones and personal belongings of innocent citizens. 

"We are going to assist and ensure that peace, law and order are restored in the state."

Mr. Okpalaezeukwu admonished youths engaging in touting and other unlawful activities in Anambra to desist, reiterating that the group would not fail to use the full weight of the Mobile Courts established by the state government to deal ruthlessly with any hoodlum caught terrorizing the state in any form.

He also emphasized that the group is determined to rehabilitate, rebrand and reintegrate youths who had resorted to touting, criminal activities and other social vices as  means of survival in the state.