You are here: HomeNewsCrime & Punishment2021 04 10Article 430087

General News of Saturday, 10 April 2021

Source: www.pulse.ng

Imo govt accuses Okorocha of inciting youths to destroy state property

Okorocha had earlier attributed the recent attacks in Imo state to poverty Okorocha had earlier attributed the recent attacks in Imo state to poverty

Following the recent attacks in Imo state, the state government has accused former governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha of inciting youths to destroy public property.
The state made the allegation in a statement by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, on Friday, April 9, 2021.

Gunmen recently attacked the correctional centre and the police command headquarters in Owerri, the state capital. Over 1,500 inmates were reportedly freed in the attacks.

Following the incidents, the state governor, Hope Uzodinma said the attacks were sponsored by aggrieved politicians in the state.

Responding to Uzodinma’s allegation, Okorocha said anyone who accuses politicians of sponsoring the attacks is only trying to politicise the incidents.

The former governor attributed the incident and other terrorist attacks in the country to poverty and injustice.

He said, “The recent attacks on the police headquarters and the correctional centre in Imo State, the unending herdsmen crises, the banditry, the unending Boko Haram, kidnapping — these are all products of poverty and injustice,

“While I call for peace and understanding, we have a duty as leaders to correct these ugly issues of injustices and poverty which are ravaging the country.

“Whoever is saying politicians are involved is trying to politicize the whole thing. I don’t think that any sane politician will go and ask youths to shoot at the police headquarters and all that.”

But in a statement by Emelumba, the state government slammed Okorocha for blaming the attacks on poverty, saying the politician impoverished the people of the state during his tenure.

Emelumba also tackled Okorocha over his alleged refusal to condemn the Imo attacks, saying the former governor is ‘reaping political capital over the unfortunate incidents.”

He said, “It is a direct slap on the face of Imo people for Okorocha to say that the cause of the security breaches in the state was poverty and injustice when he greatly impoverished Imo people by mindlessly appropriating their commonwealth in a most unjust manner, as established by the judicial commissions of inquiry that investigated his tenure in office.

“Do you know the collateral damage that rascality and indiscretion has cost Ndigbo? As I speak, Northern youths are planning attacks against Igbo property in the north because someone chose to sell out for political patronage.”