Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo has raised concerns over the growing influence of fake native doctors and self-proclaimed prophets who deceive young people with false promises of wealth and protection from the law.
Speaking at a political event in Awka, Soludo criticized these individuals for misleading the youth into believing that charms and rituals can help them evade airport security while smuggling drugs.
According to the governor, such misguided beliefs have had tragic consequences.
He revealed that 23 youths from Anambra are currently on death row in Indonesia for drug-related offenses. Soludo emphasized that these young people were manipulated into thinking they could use rituals to become invisible to authorities, only to end up imprisoned or facing execution abroad.
In response to a recent protest by followers of a pastor arrested by the state-backed Agunechemba security outfit, Soludo stood by the security team’s actions.
The demonstrators had insisted the pastor was innocent and did not engage in ritual practices.
However, the governor maintained that arrests are only made when credible evidence is available.
Soludo also criticized so-called spiritual leaders who fail to improve their own lives despite claiming to possess powerful charms.
Citing one example, he mentioned the son of a detained native doctor working as a hotel waiter in Nnewi.
“If it were that easy, why hasn’t he made his own son a millionaire?” he questioned.
He further condemned those who promote ritual-based wealth schemes through online content, warning that such messages encourage idleness among the youth.
“That is why some young people now spend their days in beer parlours, hoping to get rich without putting in any real effort,” he said.
The governor stressed the need to change this harmful mindset and warned that anyone caught promoting deceptive practices in the name of tradition or religion would face the full weight of the law.