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From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Imo State government has accused its political detractors of using the incident of the Awo Omamma killings on Sunday to igniting crisis in the State adding that their “vested interest has exposed them as sponsors of insecurity in the State”.
The commissioner for Information and strategy in the State, Declan Emelumba who disclosed this in a statement recalled that the Department of State Service(DSS) had cleared the air on the matter reiterating that those killed were bandits neutralised while plotting moves to enforce sit-at-home .
He said that ” The ferociousness with which they jumped to blame and condemn the government , even when the Department of State Services has admitted carrying out the operation, should leave no one in doubt as to those behind security breaches in the state.
Emelumba, expressed surprise that those accusing the government of killing wedding guests in Awo Omamma on Sunday, have refused to listen to the explanation of the DSS that those killed were bandits who were planning to attack innocent citizens the next day to enforce sit at home.
He recalled that the same opposition elements who did not condemn the not too distant incident of random beheading of people and the displaying of their heads in market squares as well as the discovery of a dungeon where hundreds were buried and cannibalism practiced, have suddenly become rabid crusaders against the shedding of blood as if the blood of those other people was ordinary water.
The Commissioner added that “These same elements could also not find the voice to condemn the burning of the country home of the governor and that of members of his government, in the same zone, equally comfirm their complicity otherwise “why should they condone blood letting and criminality in the same orlu axis only to hurry to condemn the government for a crime it did not commit in the same area.”
He said both those arrested during the DSS operation and the Pionter who took the security agencies to the venue where the non state actors were meeting have confessed that the shoot out occurred at the camp of criminals who were planning how to violently enforce a sit at home order the next day
Emelumba said because these opposition elements have refused to interrogate the submission of the DSS , they failed to notice that only young boys attended the traditional wedding in question, leaving out women and elders and even children, which he said is curious.
“They also failed to confirm the fact that the shoot out occurred only at the meeting camp and that those caught in the cross fire were those at the meeting venue. Of course this is only because they are jaundiced with a mindset that finds the government guilty before the outcome of investigations” the statement declared.
The Commissioner argued that the refusal of those pillorying Government of complicity, to listen to the explanation of the DSS suggest that they are collaborators in the security crisis in the area.
According to him, “why are they in a hurry to accuse the Government of any killing even when the DSS claimed responsibility and gave reasons for their actions?”
He wondered why those who are rushing to condemn the operation never deemed it fit to speak out against the earlier killings by hoodlums in the state.
Said he,” we were here when hoodlums were beheading people, slaughtering traditional rulers and even eating the flesh of human beings, but these people never condemned the atrocities. We were here when hoodlums burnt the houses of the governor and government officials, there was no whimper from these latter day crusaders. But now that the war is being taken to the hoodlums, they have suddenly found their voices’
The Commissioner was saddened by the fact that now that the security agencies were succeeding in routing the criminals, there appeared to be a coordinated campaign of calmuny against them.
He noted that for sometime, the state has been relatively peaceful as a result of the gallant efforts of security agencies and wondered why the outcry against their legitimate activities.
