The Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has expressed regrets that Easter celebration in most parts of Orlu, Orsu, Oru East and West of Imo State became a festival of tears and blood.
It blamed the development on the failure of the APC-led administration of Gov Hope Uzodinma to address the festering insecurity.
The opposition party said nothing else, aside gunshots, deaths, fire and pandemonium reigned across the land.
The PDP made this statement in Owerri, through the State Publicity Secretary, Emenike Nmeregini, while reacting to Uzodimma’s Easter message.
Recall that Gov. Uzodimma in his Easter message had said personal property of opposition politicians were hardly affected by the menace in the State, an indication that politicians could not be exonerated from the killings and wanton destruction of property.
He called on those behind the dastardly acts to repent quickly before government would go after them, adding that the killing of innocent Imo people must stop henceforth.
PDP in a swift reaction said, “day after day, the situation gets worse and the carnage only increases. In the last few days, Orlu has been on fire, with countless gory images and visuals of killings and arson dominating the cyberspace.”
According to the PDP, “All of these point to a catastrophic failure of government. They are directly consequent upon the inept and clueless leadership in Imo, underscored by the irredeemable inability of Gov Uzodinma to deliver the most basic expectation of political governance, which is the security of lives and property.”
The party lamented that “even in the face of these killings of genocidal proportion and mindless attacks on public institutions, Gov Uzodinma has never felt the urgency to properly diagnose the situation and set in motion sustainable programs and policies aimed at permanently addressing it. He has instead chosen to grandstand.”
The release further said, “Uzodinma has blamed everyone and everything else for the insecurity but himself. Every new day meets him with cheap and idle talks over a situation that consumes hundreds of innocent lives, which he has the responsibility to tackle.
“He had set a date in January for the naming of so-called sponsors of the killings. Till now, he has failed to do so. He has rather continued to seek ways to frame his perceived political foes and rope them into the orgy of violence.
“What could be more revealing of Uzodinma’s intellectual inadequacy to govern Imo than that, instead of arresting and prosecuting criminals who kill innocent citizens and burn down the state, he chooses to organize a naming ceremony in their honour?
“Further, the PDP views as shocking and condemnable the statement credited to Gov Uzodinma in his Easter message, where he wondered why bandits, killers, arsonists, terrorists and militants have not been attacking and wiping out opposition figures in Imo.
“By that statement, Uzodinma has openly reached out to these monsters and killers, encouraging them to start targeting those who disagree with him. This is an open call for the elimination of members of opposition parties in the state, and it has, in the final analysis, betrayed his sadism and deep-seated disdain for the lives of Imo people.”
The PDP while commiserating with all those who have been affected by the incessant killings in Imo, “also wishes to call on security agencies in Nigeria to hold Gov Uzodinma responsible if any attack is levied on any opposition figure in the State.”
