Owerri attacks meant to distract Uzodimma, Speaker insists

• Group deplores action, urges action
The Imo House of Assembly has described the Monday’s attacks by hoodlums on headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCS) as a calculated attempt by the “enemies of the state to distract Governor Hope Uzodimma.”

The Speaker, Paul Emeziem, insisted that no amount of distractions would deter the governor from his “laudable vision and programmes for the overall well-being cum development of the state.”

Speaking yesterday in Owerri, the Imo’s number three citizen reposed confidence in the governor to address the security challenge, apprehend the perpetrators, as well as restore normalcy and continually safeguard the life and property in the state.

Emeziem said: “What happened last Monday is highly condemnable. We see it as a politically motivated action. Some people are working very hard to distract the attention of the governor, who has been doing wonderfully well in the state since one year of his assumption of office.”

“We know that the interest of those behind this atrocious and barbaric act is also to cause confusion in the state and make the people vulnerable.”

Asked of the way out, he stated: “The governor I know is a proactive personality. And I know very well that before now, he must have put in place the necessary machinery situation to avoid a repeat.”

The top lawmaker urged the people to rally round the governor for sustainable peace, progress and development in the state.

MEANWHILE, the Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development (FENRAD) has deplored the action, urging immediate arrest of the masterminds.

Its Executive Director, Nelson Nnanna Nwafor, in a statement yesterday, added: “The only thing FENRAD wishes to see done, not even being done, is peace-building and return to status quo ante. Nothing else.”