Chidiebube Okeoma, Owerri
The governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodinma, on Sunday asked the residents of the state to dispel the speculation that hoodlums wanted to attack the state, again.
The governor who descibed as a false alarm, the rumour making the rounds that some bandits wanted to attacks institutions and Government facilities, assured that the security agents had the capacity to safeguard the state.
Uzodimma spoke after a Church Service at the Government House Chaplaincy in Owerri, the state capital.
He said that the rumour was targeted at putting fears in the minds of the people of the state.
The governor said “Imo people and residents should go about their businesses without fear of molestation or harassment. What happened in the past weeks will never repeat itself again.
“Let me use this opportunity to reiterate my earlier stand that those perpetrating the violence and evil in Imo State are mostly not Igbo people but hired machineries.
“The Government under my watch will not allow those who visited mayhem on the people to operate again in Imo State.
“We will crush anybody that attempts to cause mayhem or attack Imo people again. Government cannot surrender to blackmailers, hoodlums and perpetrators of violence who have sworn to make the State ungovernable.”
“Over 400 of those who carried out the threats on the State in the past have been arrested and undergoing trials in the courts.The good thing there is that over 70 per cent of them are not Igbo.”
He also advised those planning to visit the State with any form of violence to have a rethink as “government is more than ever ready and prepared to keep Imo safe and secured.”
