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Fact-Check 81 — The Quiet War That Never Ended
By Prof. MarkAnthony Nze
The Broadcast That Promised Peace
On a cool February morning in 2025, Governor Hope Uzodinma addressed the people of Imo from the Government House in Owerri. His voice was solemn yet triumphant. “Imo is now the safest state in Nigeria,” he declared. “Our security network has ended all kidnappings.” The audience applauded. Television anchors echoed the line across state media. The image was one of victory—of a leader who had conquered fear with resolve.
But outside the walls of that broadcast, gunfire still punctuated the night air in Orsu. Commuters in Okigwe whispered about missing relatives. In Ngor Okpala, a pastor was abducted from his car the very evening of the governor’s speech.
What the cameras recorded as peace, the statistics exposed as denial.
The Data That Speaks Louder Than Power
The Nigeria Police Force’s Annual Crime Statistics Report (2024) recorded 243 kidnappings in Imo State—an increase of 17 percent from the previous year.
SBM Intelligence’s Security Index Q1 2025 placed Imo as the second most affected state in the South-East, trailing only Anambra.
The National Bureau of Statistics Crime Data Dashboard corroborated these findings: between January 2024 and January 2025, at least 198 reported abductions occurred in Imo. Civil society groups such as the Joint Action Committee on Human Security (2024) estimated that the real figure may be twice as high, given widespread underreporting.
Behind every number lies a face: the driver snatched on the Owerri–Okigwe expressway, the teacher taken from her school gate, the priest abducted from the altar.
The governor’s declaration of “zero kidnapping” collapses not in rhetoric—but in arithmetic.
The Theater of Security
Every administration crafts its own mythology. For Uzodinma’s, it is the image of control—uniforms, convoys, and command.
The Imo State Security Network—a fusion of local vigilantes and federal police—was meant to symbolize sovereignty reclaimed. But field verification by Civil Society Joint Action Committee (2024) found that many of these formations operate without centralized command, coordination, or accountability.
In Okigwe, a vigilante group head admitted:
“We have no logistics from the state. We operate with locally raised funds and goodwill.”
Their bravery is real, but their capacity is brittle. The government’s statistics, however, remain immaculate—because numbers on paper do not bleed.
Read also: Falsehood No. 80 — “Imo Now Exports Tech Products Regionally”
A Government That Mistook Silence for Safety
After repeated incidents in Orlu and Ihitte-Uboma in late 2024, local reporters seeking comment were dismissed by officials as “agents of insecurity.”
Premium Times Nigeria (2025) later revealed that the government had quietly directed the Imo State Police Command to stop releasing monthly crime data “to avoid misinterpretation.”
That policy, according to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Subnational Security Governance Scorecard (2024), made Imo one of the least transparent states in Nigeria for public security data sharing.
By suppressing statistics, the government created a vacuum where perception replaced evidence. The absence of data became the proof of progress.
The Price of Political Optics
The African Centre for Strategic Studies (2025) calls it “the securitization of politics”—a system in which leaders manufacture narratives of stability for legitimacy.
In Imo, this has become statecraft. Official communiqués describe “peaceful communities,” even as CFR’s Nigeria Security Tracker (2025) records gun battles in the same localities within hours.
In one tragic sequence, five commuters were kidnapped on March 15, 2025, near Okigwe—barely 24 hours after the governor’s latest “security victory” post. Vanguard Newspapers confirmed that ransom calls were made within two hours of abduction.
Security, in Imo, is not the absence of violence—it is the suppression of visibility.
The Economics of Insecurity
The illusion of safety is costly. Between 2021 and 2024, Imo allocated ₦58.3 billion to “Security and Peacebuilding.” Yet, the BudgIT State of States Report (2025) revealed that over 60 percent of that spending lacked traceable disbursement records.
Procurement files list “Operational Support,” “Community Intelligence Services,” and “Strategic Consultancy.” No audited performance outcomes exist.
Meanwhile, the victims pay their own ransom.
One father in Mbaise told The Eastern Updates:
“We no longer expect rescue. We just pray for negotiation.”
This, more than any statistic, defines the failure of governance—a government that counts expenditures more faithfully than lives.
The Geography of Fear
The International Crisis Group (2024) mapped abductions across the South-East. The pattern in Imo is revealing: concentrated in border corridors—Okigwe, Orlu, Ngor Okpala—areas neglected in infrastructure and dominated by youth unemployment above 55 percent.
Where poverty grows, crime finds sanctuary.
Yet, instead of addressing the causes—joblessness, impunity, and state corruption—the government declares victories over symptoms it never cured.
The Federal Ministry of Interior’s Security Incident Report (2024) notes that police stations in rural Imo remain under-resourced, with one patrol vehicle covering multiple local governments. Technology, promised in the 2024 “Smart Surveillance Initiative,” never materialized.
The Human Cost
For families of the abducted, every day is a negotiation with despair.
The wife of a businessman kidnapped along the Owerri–Port Harcourt Road recounted:
“They told us to pay ₦4 million. We sold land. When we called the police, they said, ‘We are working on it.’ It has been eight months.”
Such voices are often absent from state broadcasts. But they remain the most authentic measure of the truth.
Verdict — The Peace That Exists Only on Paper
Governor Uzodinma’s claim that his administration “ended all kidnappings” in Imo collapses under evidence from the NBS, Nigeria Police Force, SBM Intelligence, and international security monitors.
Kidnapping has not ended—it has evolved, decentralized, and normalized.
The tragedy is not merely the persistence of violence, but the institutionalization of denial.
A government that equates propaganda with protection cannot guarantee safety.
Real peace is not declared—it is felt. And in Imo, the air still carries the silence of fear, the echo of missing names, and the sound of promises that die before the applause fades.
Professor MarkAnthony Ujunwa Nze is an internationally acclaimed investigative journalist, public intellectual, and global governance analyst whose work shapes contemporary thinking at the intersection of health and social care management, media, law, and policy. Renowned for his incisive commentary and structural insight, he brings rigorous scholarship to questions of justice, power, and institutional integrity.
Based in New York, he serves as a full tenured professor and Academic Director at the New York Center for Advanced Research (NYCAR), where he leads high-impact research in governance innovation, strategic leadership, and geopolitical risk. He also oversees NYCAR’s free Health & Social Care professional certification programs, accessible worldwide at:
https://www.newyorkresearch.org/professional-certification/
Professor Nze remains a defining voice in advancing ethical leadership and democratic accountability across global systems.
Bibliographies
African Centre for Strategic Studies. (2025). State of African Security: Nigeria’s Southeastern Insurgencies 2025. Washington, DC: ACSS Security Trends Series.
BudgIT Foundation. (2025). State of States Report 2025 – Public Safety and Fiscal Stability (Imo Chapter). Lagos: BudgIT Foundation.
Civil Society Joint Action Committee. (2024). Human Security in the South-East: Field Verification Report. Abuja: CSJAC Nigeria.
Council on Foreign Relations. (2025). Nigeria Security Tracker – Data for 2024 to 2025. New York: CFR Africa Program.
Federal Ministry of Interior. (2024). Quarterly Security Incident Report Q4 2024 – South-East Zone. Abuja: Policy, Research & Statistics Department.
Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC TV). (2025, February 3). Governor Uzodinma: “Our Security Network Has Ended Kidnapping in Imo.” Owerri: IBC Archives.
Imo State Government. (2025, February 4). Press Release: Governor’s State Broadcast on Peace and Security Achievements. Owerri: Ministry of Information.
International Crisis Group. (2024). Mitigating Nigeria’s South-East Security Crisis. Brussels: ICG Africa Report No. 317.
National Bureau of Statistics. (2024). State Crime and Security Data Dashboard 2024 – Recorded Kidnapping Incidents by State. Abuja: NBS Social Statistics Division.
Nigeria Governors’ Forum. (2024). Subnational Security Governance Scorecard 2024. Abuja: NGF Secretariat.
Nigeria Police Force. (2024). Annual Crime Statistics Report 2024 – South-East Zone. Abuja: Research and Planning Department.
SBM Intelligence. (2025). Nigeria Security Index Q1 2025 – Kidnap and Violence Trends. Lagos: SBM Intelligence Public Briefing Series.
The Guardian Nigeria. (2025, March 12). “Kidnappings Persist in Imo Despite Government Claims of Victory.” Retrieved from https://guardian.ng
Premium Times Nigeria. (2025, March 14). Fact Check: Imo Still Faces High Abduction Rates Contrary to Uzodinma’s Claim. Retrieved from https://www.premiumtimesng.com
Vanguard Newspapers. (2025, March 16). “Gunmen Abduct Five Commuters Near Okigwe Hours After Governor’s Speech.” Retrieved from https://www.vanguardngr.com
