Stakeholders from the 305 wards in Imo State, after a meeting in Owerri yesterday, resolved to mandate the state government to recover every property, money or wealth, stolen from Imo people by any person, no matter how highly placed.
At the end of the meeting, the stakeholders, which included a former governor and deputy governors, said: “We the stakeholders from Imo State from the 305 wards in the state, after a meeting in Owerri on Saturday February 21, 2021 do hereby resolve to mandate the state government to recover every property, money or wealth stolen from Imo people by any person, no matter how highly placed.”
This is just as the State Governor Hope Uzodimma explained why he invited the military to Orlu to protect the women and people who were raped and maimed by militants.
Addressing the stakeholders at the town hall meeting in Owerri, Uzodimma explained that as his administration was grappling with the issues of robbery and kidnapping, some hoodlums and miscreants went to take over Orlu in the name of protecting the people from invasion of herdsmen.
“Some hoodlums and mercenaries went and took over Orlu in the name of ‘protecting the people from invading herdsmen.’ Before we knew what was happening, innocent citizens and even security operatives were killed. Women, among them grandmothers, were raped. Indeed anarchy loomed and we had to act fast as a government. We had to secure the area with additional security drawn from the military.
Sadly, some mischief makers and unrepentant political merchants and alarmists twisted the story upside-down. It smacks of sheer mischief for anyone to claim that what happened in Orlu was a military invasion. The military is in Orlu to protect our people from blood-thirsty mercenaries who were killing, maiming and raping them.
‘‘It will interest you to know that these militants who terrorised Orlu for weeks and months ago, most of them are not Igbos. The evidence emerged when some of them were arrested. They have made useful confessions and we now know that they were imported from outside the Southeast to come and turn Imo State into a theatre of war under the guise of IPOB or Eastern Security Network though working with IPOB members.’’
At the end of the meeting, the stakeholders mandated Uzodimma to recover every property, money or wealth stolen from Imo people by any person, no matter how highly placed.
Prominent among those in attendance were a former governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, who was chairman of the stakeholders gathering, three deputy governors, Eng. Ebere Udeagu, Ada Okwuonu and Jude Agbaso, former Speakers of Imo State House of Assembly, Kelechi Nwagwu and Chiji Collins; current Speaker, Rt. Hon. Paul Emeziem and his deputy, Rt. Hon. Amara Iwuanyanwu, former Ambassador Greg Mbadiwe, retired deputy Inspector General of Police, Hilary Opara, Prof. Maurice Iwu, Dr. EJK. Onyewuchi, OK 2000, among others.