The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Imo State, has called on the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to, upon assumption of office, discontinue the silence of the Federal Government over Senator Hope Uzodinma’s alleged use of state apparatus to oppress Imo people and crush political dissent.
PDP urged Tinubu to respect the decision of the Imo people and neither hatch nor partake in any scheme to allow unpopular and widely-rejected regimes to stay in power a day longer than January 15, 2024.
The opposition party stated this in a statement signed by its State Publicity Secretary, Collins Opurozor, made available to DAILYPOST in Owerri, Imo State capital.
PDP further said it is troubling to note that the size of Imo territory, which has now been overrun and occupied by killers, arsonists, kidnappers, and bandits, is larger than the territories of Malta and the Vatican City put together.
The party explained that 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 war front.
The statement reads,”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.
“Traditional rulers are now brutally murdered. In some instances, they are beheaded and their bodies dumped in the streets. Judges are dragged out from their courtrooms and slaughtered like rams. In the last seven days, two Catholic priests have been abducted, and their whereabouts are still unknown. Things have fallen apart, and Imo has become a wasteland!
“As a political party, we are 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.”
The party further said more than 300 Imo residents had been victims of forced disappearances, while over five hundred thousand young men have fled the State for fear of being profiled and killed and political opponents have been targeted for elimination.
The opposition party said the brutal attacks on Hon. Uju Kingsley Chima and Barr. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, in which family members and political supporters were gruesomely murdered, remains a pointer to the pitiable situation in Imo.
“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,” the party averred.
