A former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha on Thursday berated the incumbent Governor, Hope Uzodimma over his comment on the recent gunmen attacks on the Police Command headquarters and the Correctional headquarters in the State which led to the burning of over fifty cars and escape of over 1800 inmates in the facilities.
Uzodimma had in the wake of the attacks, while featuring on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme blamed the attacks on aggrieved politicians whom he said were sponsoring the gunmen.
According to the Governor, the objective of the aggrieved politicians was to destablise the All Progressives Congress administration under his leadership.
But Okorocha who spoke with Journalists in Jos on Thursday after attending a burial ceremony of Mrs Felicia Kaneng accused the Governor of conjuring up false narrative to cover up his “incompetence and weakness in managing the affairs of Imo state”.
“I don’t think any sane politician can ask anyone to go and attack the police headquarters or Correctional facility. I think he should stop politicizing everything. When somebody wants to escape from his own weakness in managing the state affairs, he will blame politicians. Which politicians?”, Okorocha querried.
The Senator who represents Imo West in the National Assembly insisted that the attacks on police stations and a correctional facility in Imo State were products of national poverty and injustice going in Nigeria.
He added that what happened in Imo state could have been avoided if Governor Hope Uzodimma had consulted him for guidance and advice as a former Governor on how he was able to manage all the different groups operating in the State without any problem during his administration.
The Senator said:
“When I was Governor, there was peace in Imo state. All the security outfits by whatever name they were called were on including IPOB, and because we applied wisdom,the peace was sustained .
“He (Governor Hope Uzodimma) should face the challenge of leadership and consultations at this time is very important because if the Governor had consulted me and asked how I was able to handle IPOB during my tenure or the issue of kidnapping and agitations by various groups and other challenges, I would have told him how we did it and there was peace in Imo.
“But this idea of bringing the army, airforce and so on as a response can aggravate things.”
Okorocha maintained that dialogue and not confrontation remains the only solution to the problem of insecurity and other challenges facing Nigeria
