Uzodimma has accused his political opponents of fanning the embers of violence in the State
By Emma Ogbuehi
Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, will on Tuesday publicly name those allegedly behind the spate of insecurity in the state.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, disclosed this in a statement in Owerri on Monday.
Emelumba said, “The governor will use the occasion of the 6th edition of the IMO stakeholders forum to name those who are sponsors and financiers of insecurity in the state.”
According to the Commissioner, “The Government is in possession of crack evidence of the involvement of those responsible for the carnage.”
Emelumba further said, “Apart from the public being availed of those individuals, the governor will update IMO people on his performance in the last two years.”
He disclosed that “the stakeholders meeting/luncheon will now hold at the Government House, and not the AHIAJOKU CONVENTION CENTER, Owerri by 12 noon on Tuesday, January 4th,2022.”
He noted that the meeting which is the sixth in the series is very crucial because of the weighty issues that are up for discussion.
Imo State has been one of the most insecure states in the Southeast since Uzodimma became governor in January 2021.
READ ALSO: Under Hope Uzodimma, Imo has gone to the dogs
The latest was on Sunday, December 26, 2021, when policemen invaded St Peter’s Anglican Church, Eziama-Obaire, Nkwerre, to abduct Uche Nwosu.
Nwosu, son-in-law of Uzodimma’s predecessor, Rochas Okorocha, was also governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the 2019 elections.
The manner of Uche Nwosu’s arrest elicited wide spread criticism.
The Anglican Province of Owerri, Imo State said it will take up the matter with the police.
The Archbishop of the province, Most Rev Dr David Onuoha, in a statement said that the shooting of bullets and dispersing of worshippers had never been witnessed in the over 160 years of the existence of the church in the state.
“As much as we are not concerned or interested in the reason for this invasion, which is unprecedented in the more than 160 years history of the church in this state, we are gravely worried and disturbed that worshippers were greatly frightened, worried, confused and completely disorganised by the presence of heavily armed security operatives in the church service thereby disrupting the worship of God’s people,” the Archbishop said.
“That the police jumped inside the church in a gestapo style when the service was in full session is reprehensible, primitive, and highly condemnable. We are at a great loss why the police decided to throw caution to the winds and completely ignore internationally acclaimed rules of engagement and civility in this matter.”
The Catholic Church also condemned the invasion of the Anglican Church, calling it a “new low.”
“The apparent desecration of the sanctity of a place of worship at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Eziama Obaire, Nkwerre Local Government Area on Sunday 26th December is an added new low in the Nigerian polity,” the Catholic Bishop of Orlu Diocese, Augustine Ukwuoma, said in a statement, December 27.
Bishop Ukwuoma said Nwosu was not above the law, but condemned the way the operatives carried out the arrest.
“One wonders how long it will take before that worshiping community gets over the trauma occasioned by this sad incident. We are living in a violent and tensed up society, therefore, any action that is capable of escalating the stress in the society should be avoided,” the cleric said.
This is not the first time Uzodimma has vowed to expose those allegedly behind the violence.
But while Uzodimma blames his political opponents for the spike in violence, many fingers of blame are pointing in his direction.