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From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The last might not have been heard about the quarrel between Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma and his predecessor, Rochas Okorocha over the insecurity rocking the state.
The governor had vowed to name sponsors of insecurity in the state at a stakeholders meeting on Tuesday, but reneged and opted to allow security agents conclude their investigations.
But Okorocha, at a press conference, yesterday, slammed the governor for his U-turn. He also accused the state government of being the mastermind of insecurity using a special task force set up by the governor.
“I hate to join issues with the governor but it has become important that I have to let the whole world know what is going on in Imo. If you may recall, the governor had said he was going to name those sponsoring insecurity in Imo State on January 4. This development came as a beacon of light to many people who were waiting to hear what the governor would say and how it will end the killings and bad stories in Imo State.
“Two days before the time, one of his aide in the social media or press release, mentioned my name and Ugwumba Uche Nwosu my in-law, and only yesterday being the 4th, the governor came saying he is not going to call any name, that he would allowed the security people to do their work and arrest the people. That is a high level of inconsistency.
“So this government that lies, deceives a lot at every given time, this gentleman has lied on every given issue, the governor could not mentioned names, but his aide three days ago mentioned me.”
Okorocha said the world was waiting to hear how Governor Uzodimma would explain who killed Ahmed Gulak, traditional rulers and thousands of people in the state, but were shocked that on the appointed day he opted to trivialise the matter.
“It came to people as a shock that the governor can shy away from it which goes a long way to say that if the abduction of Uche Nwosu in the church was successful, he would have been announcing him as number one. So when that failed he quickly reversed and said let the police do their job. Anytime this government messes up, they try to put the police in bad light, the presidency and the whole government of Nigeria in a bad light. This has been his style; what he tells A is not what he tells B.”
He said he had no personal grudge with Uzodimma other than his intention to scuttle his presidential ambition.
“What animosity do I have for him other than he has vowed from making me run for the post of the president of Federal Republic of Nigeria. He has been boasting about it, but I’m waiting for him, what will be my animosity for him is that I don’t want him to win another election.”
Okorocha also alleged that a group, Hopism Strike Force in the Imo Government House, was used by the governor to intimidate the people saying: “What is happening in Imo State is simply killing and intimidation, people are not speaking because they are scared.”
However, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba said Imo had been liberated from Okorocha.
“We don’t want to join issues with a man who is ignorant of what democratic rule is all about ,he does not understand it and will never understand it ,he believes democracy is all about his family, his cronies and amassing wealth from the government coffers. He wouldn’t understand that somebody has come with a change. Okorochas’s government was an aberration, a miscarriage, nobody knew Imo would be like this again.”
