The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is in power in Imo State, has urged President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to end the federal government’s silence about Senator Hope Uzodinma’s alleged use of the state machinery to repress Imo citizens and suppress political dissent as soon as he becomes office.
PDP asked Tinubu to respect the choice made by the people of Imo and not devise or participate in any plans that would enable unpopular and widely-rejected regimes to continue in power beyond January 15, 2024.
In a statement made public in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, and signed by its state publicity secretary, Collins Opurozor, the opposition party made this claim.
PDP continued by stating that it is alarming to learn that the extent of the Imo region, which has now been taken over and inhabited by assassins, arsonists, kidnappers, and bandits, is more than the combined areas of Malta and the Vatican City.
According to the party, over a million people have been evacuated, the state’s main senatorial district, Orlu, has been abandoned, and economic activity has been severely hindered. Also a battlefront is now the Okigwe Zone.
The quote states, “Parts of Owerri Zone are quickly getting consumed by this fire of insecurity. Everyone from Imo may soon find themselves in other areas of the nation as refugees if we do nothing now.
“Previous rulers are now mercilessly slaughtered. They are sometimes decapitated and their corpses are thrown in the streets. Then they are killed like rams, hauled from their courtrooms. Two Catholic priests have been kidnapped in the last seven days, and it is still unclear where they are. Imo is now a wilderness since everything has crumbled!
“As a political party, we are appalled by the worrisome incapacity, lack of concentration, and complete inability of the departing administration of Senator Hope Uzodinma to control this ravaging beast of insecurity for more than two years.
“The reality is not so much that this government’s security strategies have failed as it is that there are no government strategies to address the security challenges.”
The party said that over 300 Imo people had experienced forced disappearances and that over 500,000 young men had deserted the State out of fear of being targeted for murder and profiling as well as political rivals.
The violent assaults on Hon. Uju Kingsley Chima and Barr. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, in which family members and followers of the two politicians were horribly slain, according to the opposition party, continue to serve as a warning sign for the plight of Imo.
“This failed APC administration in the State must now make way for a focused, result-oriented, responsible, and humane government of the PDP to step in and start the process of genuine healing in the State,” the party said.
