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From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Imo Government has accused its political detractors of using Awo Omamma killings to ignite crisis in the state, saying their vested interest has exposed them as sponsors of insecurity in the state.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, in a statement expressed surprise that those accusing 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 display 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 said: “These same elements, who could 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 confirm 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 those 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,” he said in the statement.
The commissioner said the refusal of those pillorying government of complicity, to listen to the explanation of the DSS suggested they were collaborators in the security crisis in the area.
“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?
“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,” he said.
He said 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.
