Ahead of the governorship election in Imo State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the President-elect Bola Tinubu not to interfere with the process by allowing Governor Hope Uzodimma foist himself on the people,leadership report.
PDP publicity secretary in Imo State, Collins Opurozor, who stated this during a press briefing at the party secretariat in Owerri yesterday, asked Tinubu to respect the wishes of the people of the state who, according to him, have rejected Uzodimma.
The party spokesman further called on the federal government to speak up on what it described as the daily atrocities happening in the state.
Opurozor said Tinubu upon being sworn in as president, must quickly discontinue the federal government’s silence over Uzodimma’s “use of state apparatus to oppress Imo people, gag the press and crush political dissent.”
He added, “It is now clear that Senator Uzodinma has lost Imo State. His purchase of a few endorsements has not helped his wobbling regime. He is now desperate, running to his fellow governor for award and validation. But no matter how hard he tries, his removal from power is a decided issue. Nothing can change this”.
The PDP spokesman alleged that Uzodimma has turned the state into a killing field with endless abductions, mass killings, and arson since assuming office as governor.
Opurozor said “A recent report by an international human rights watchdog called Intersociety has aligned with our long-held position, that the government in Imo State has questions to answer over the killings in the State. We have it in Intersociety’s authority that over nine hundred innocent Imo residents have been murdered in extrajudicial manners in the last twenty-nine months.”
This means that at least one innocent person is killed every day in Imo by those who are supposed to protect them. Nothing is ever done to ensure justice is served. Nothing is ever said by the government. Killing is now a norm. This cannot continue!
“Similarly, more than three hundred Imo residents have been victims of forced disappearances, while over five hundred thousand young men have fled the State for fear of being profiled and killed. Political opponents have been targeted for elimination. The brutal attacks on Hon. Uju Kingsley Chima and Barr. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, in which family members and political supporters were gruesomely murdered, remain a pointer to the pitiable situation in Imo” Opurozor said.
Opurozor disclosed that PDP has petitioned the international criminal court, embassies and High Commissions of all the American and European countries over events in the state, adding they are seeking to secure a total and immediate visa ban on Uzodimma and officials of his regime.
Further, he said the PDP was dismayed “By the alarming incompetence, lack of focus and total failure of the outgoing government of Senator Hope Uzodinma to tame this rampaging monster of insecurity for more than two years. The truth is not so much that the security strategies of this government have failed than that the government has no strategies to tackle the security challenges.
“This failed APC administration in the State must now give way for a focused, result-oriented, responsible and humane government of PDP to step in and begin the process of genuine healing in the State.
“It is troubling to note that the size of Imo territory that has now been overrun and occupied by killers, arsonists, kidnappers and bandits is larger than the territories of Malta and Vatican City put together. The largest senatorial district in the State, which is Orlu, has been abandoned, economic activities crippled and over a million residents displaced. Okigwe Zone has also become a warfront. Parts of Owerri Zone are fast becoming engulfed in this fire of insecurity. If we do not act now, every Imo person may soon become a refugee in other parts of the country”, the PDP said.
Further, the party complained over the last general election in the state wherein, according to him, government appointees led armed thugs and rogue security agents to unleash mayhem on innocent citizens in the desperation to capture power, saying such atrocities must never go unpunished.
Opurozor disclosed that the party has commenced activities to take back the state and restore her to peace and progress, saying under their watch, Imo will be safe again.
