Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has claimed that no section of the country is marginalizing the Igbos, urging people of the South-East to stop fighting a war that ended 56 years ago, instead to embrace peace and full participation in nation-building.

Soludo made the remarks on Thursday during the wreath-laying and parade ceremony to mark the 2026 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration at the Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, where he also commended President Bola Tinubu for what he described as renewed vigour and seriousness in tackling terrorism and other forms of insecurity across the country.

The governor expressed confidence that with the increased commitment of the Federal Government, the lingering security challenges confronting the nation would be decisively overcome.

He paid tribute to President Tinubu as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, noting that insecurity had festered for nearly two decades and was almost becoming a new normal before the current administration’s renewed efforts.

According to him, the collaboration among the armed forces and other security agencies had given fresh hope that terrorism would be finally dealt with. He praised the President for the resolve shown so far and urged him to sustain the momentum.

Soludo, however, expressed concern over what he described as the low interest shown by people of Anambra State and the South-East in general in enlisting into the Nigerian Army and Police Force.

He warned that such attitude was counter-productive and amounted to self-marginalisation, stressing that a nation could not be built by citizens who chose to opt out of its core institutions.

He revealed that during the last recruitment exercises into the army and the police, Anambra recorded the lowest expression of interest in the country, a development he described as worrisome.

The governor called on youths in the state to enlist in the armed forces, stressing that Nigeria belonged to all its citizens and that full ownership of the country required active participation.

Soludo said if the trend continued, future generations would complain of the absence of officers of Anambra or Igbo extraction in the security architecture of the country, despite having refused to participate when opportunities were available.

He insisted that nobody was marginalizing the Igbo, adding that exclusion often resulted from deliberate withdrawal from national responsibilities.

He said: “The Police is working hard, the army; you’re  working hard, but Anambra people and the rest of the South East this is the moment that we have to tell ourselves that the Civil War has ended and the Civil War ended 56 years ago.

“Because our youths from the South East and particularly from Anambra the last  recruitment into the Army and even into the Police Anambra  and the South East are the lowest in the country.

“I want to use this opportunity to call on our youths to enlist in the Armed forces of Nigeria and Nigeria belongs to all of us and we cannot be full members but at the same time get out and this is one area that we have been marginalizing ourselves.

“We refused to enter the Police and the armed forces, then in a few decades to come we will turn around to complain that there are no officers of Anambra extraction or Igbo extraction, so we must participate equally as equal owners of project Nigeria.

Soludo also took a swipe at the activities of miscreants in the South East contending that no human being lives in the forest but in houses.

“I want to also call on our brothers and few sisters who are in the bushes and in the forest and so called camps and some say they are liberators but this people are criminals, they are kidnappers and territories.

“They are not liberating anybody they are facades so come out because human beings don’t live in the bushes or forests.

“Human beings live in houses the terror era is and must be over and we have extended olive branch to the remnants, the few left to come out and we will help them to become useful productive citizens of the country.

‘We use this opportunity once again to extend the olive branch. As we celebrate the Armed forces day today, we call on you to lay down your arms because the civil war is over.

“We cannot continue the civil war through other means and it is not just for those of them in the South East but for the entire Nigeria who describe themselves by other ways, call it bandits all over the country”

“It is time to build Nigeria to realize it’s manifest destiny and not just the largest populous nation on earth but the most progressives nation on earth,” he said.

The event was attended by commanders of security agencies in the state including; the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State Command, CP Ikioye Orutugu.