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Okorocha, Imo govt resume ‘fight’, trade accusations over state-wide attacks

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Okorocha and Uzodinma

The protracted ‘fight’ between the Imo State government led by Governor Hope Uzodinma and the immediate past governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha has resurfaced.

The state government on Thursday, April 8, accused former Governor Okorocha of being the brain behind the recent attacks on the police command headquarters and the correctional centre in the state.

However, the lawmaker advised Governor Uzodimma to stop politicising security matters.

Okorocha, who represents Imo West Senatorial District, said Uzodimma should rather seek his counsel on how to deal with criminality.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that the Imo Commissioner for Information Declan Emelumba claimed the former governor engaged thugs whom he had granted amnesty to unleash violence on the state.

Emelumba said Okorocha sponsored some northern youths who called for the declaration of a state of emergency in Imo barely hours after the attacks.

Read also: Drama as Okorocha, monarch engage in serious altercation aboard plane

He alleged that the former governor wanted to get back at Uzodimma for insisting on the implementation of the White Paper that indicted the Senator for alleged looting and land grabbing.

“Recall that the man had gone to court to stop the commission from sitting. When that failed, he approached Governor Uzodimma to disband the panels.

“When that failed, he resorted to violence to repossess property government had sealed. That is the motive for the attacks,” the commissioner said.

In his response, Okorocha, who spoke in Jos, the Plateau State capital when he paid a condolence visit to the family of late Mrs Falicia Kanen Biskanga in Kuru, implored Uzodinma to focus on governance rather than playing the blame game.

According to him, despite the challenges posed by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other agitators during his tenure, he was able to keep the state peaceful because he consulted widely.

Okorocha said: “The recent attacks on the police headquarters and the correctional centre in Imo State, the unending herdsmen crises, the banditry, the unending Boko Haram, kidnapping – these are all products of poverty and injustice.

“While I call for peace and understanding, we have a duty as leaders to correct these ugly issues of injustices and poverty which are ravaging the country.

“My message to him (Uzodimma) is that he should face the challenge of leadership and consultation at this time.”

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