Imo Deputy governor denies threatening woman on phone
Deputy governor of Imo State, Gerald Irona, has denied threatening one Calista Anene over the phone. In a statement issued yesterday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr. Walter Duru, the deputy governor described the story carried by an Owerri-based tabloid as false.
The statement read in part: “The report, which does not have a by-line, quoted one Calista Anene as alleging that the deputy governor of Imo State, Gerald Irona, through one Buchi Adigwe, threatened her on telephone.
“She further accused the deputy governor and his wife of presiding over a prayer session in his house, during which they mobilised Oguta women who wore black and prayed for her death. She also boasted that she sabotaged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the area to hurt the party’s candidate for the House of Representatives during the 2019 elections, among other issues.”According to the number two citizen, the “baseless claims” would not have been responded to, but considering the fact that lies told severally might begin to sound like the truth, even to the manufacturer of the lies.
“Available records show that there is no aide of the deputy governor named Buchi Adigwe. Whatever telephone conversation she claims to have had with him was personal and has no business with the person or office of the deputy governor.
“Her claim that Oguta women were mobilised by the deputy governor to protest against her is laughable. On the said day, hundreds of women from the area, perplexed by what they described as Anene’s misconducts and disrespect to their son, the deputy governor, came out in black to protest against her.
“Reports have it that they went as far as laying curses on her, accusing her of committing abominable acts against their land, among other things. As part of the protest, which took them round the entire Oguta community, the women paid a solidarity visit to the deputy governor, who, among other things, warned them against taking the laws into their hands.”He advised the general public to disregard Anene’s claims, as there was no truth in them, adding that enemies of the state sponsored her to distract the government of the day.
