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Anambra Governor Asked to Probe Onitsha Council Chairman over N3billion Extortion allegations. The heat is on Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo. A fresh and explosive allegation has landed on his desk, and the people of Onitsha are watching to see if he will look the other way or take decisive action.
The Onitsha North Local Government Area chairman is at the centre of a growing scandal involving an alleged N3 billion extortion racket reportedly running through the commercial markets of Onitsha, one of the busiest and most economically significant trading hubs in West Africa. Petitioners and concerned stakeholders have formally called on Governor Soludo to order an immediate probe into the activities of the council boss, accusing him of superintending over a systematic shakedown of market traders and business owners.
The allegations, if proven, represent one of the most brazen cases of local government abuse in recent Anambra memory. Onitsha markets are not just a state asset, they are a national economic institution. Traders who operate there often do so on razor-thin margins, and any organised scheme designed to bleed them dry through illegal levies and extortion goes beyond corruption. It is an economic assault on ordinary Nigerians trying to survive.
At the heart of the demand for a probe is a simple question: where is the money going? If market traders are being squeezed to the tune of billions of naira, that money is not ending up in any government account that the public can see. It is allegedly lining private pockets while the infrastructure of those same markets continues to rot.
The pressure on Soludo is politically significant. His administration has built its brand on performance governance and zero tolerance for corruption. Allowing a council chairman under his watch to operate what critics are calling an organised racket would punch a serious hole in that narrative. The governor has no political cover here. The allegation is specific, the figure is staggering, and the petitioners are loud.
Soludo must act, and act fast. Ordering a transparent and independent investigation is the bare minimum. If the allegations hold up, the Onitsha North council chairman should not only be removed from office but should face the full weight of the law. Market traders in Onitsha deserve protection, not predators in government positions.
The governor came to power promising to transform Anambra. Letting a N3 billion extortion scandal fester at the local government level would be a betrayal of that promise and an insult to every honest trader working the floors of Onitsha Main Market every single day.
