Ikenga Ugochinyere, a member of the House of Representatives, has alleged that the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, is fuelling the crisis that is ongoing in the South-East due to unknown gunmen enforcing a compulsory Sit-At-Home order.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, the representative for Ideato Federal Constituency in Imo State claimed that although some South-Eastern governors were advocating for the end of the Sit-At-Home order, he believed that some other governors were in support of the chaos.
Ugochinyere said, “Some of the governors in the South East is enjoying the crisis. Some of the governors like the confusion because possibly, they are benefitting in this atmosphere of insecurity and feeling of being unsafe by our people. And some of them, let me say boldly without mincing any words, recruited vigilante groups from neighbouring states into their state security architecture, and then what you see is that the same security vigilante people they recruited turned to be unknown gunmen, also, part of the problem.”
“Of course, the governor of Imo State, the vigilante he is running is a political outfit that is going after his political opponents. Houses are being burned, people are being killed left, right, and centre… I am saying that he is fuelling the crisis, and I have evidence to back that.”
Ugochinyere then said that the Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo will be holding a meeting, where they plan to bring up solutions for the insecurity and economic issues in the South East. He said, “Lawmakers in the South East are working together, especially at the House of Representatives, where we have started meeting on how to form a common position in tackling all these challenges.” He then said that the meeting will contain discussions on how they can promote inclusion, security and economic growth in order to maintain a sense of peace and progress in the South East.
Speaking about meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in order to ask for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the representative said, “I think that meeting the president is very important. Our governors, our lawmakers, captains of industry and business men and all the different socio-cultural interest groups, it’s very very important, I agree to that.” He then said that it will be a follow up to Mbazulike Amaechi’s visit to former President Muhammadu Buhari during his administration, where he advocated for Nnamdi Kanu’s release. “This visit is also important for other areas that need to be sorted out before you go into the full discussion of letting him to go home. Because it’s not just letting him to go home, there’s other conversations that are also going to be discussed.”
When Ugochinyere was questioned on ways to solve the issues in the South-East, he then replied, “The things that led to the agitation was the issues of marginalization, was the issue of unfair treatment, was the issue of lack of integration and full acceptance. And the issues that led to the insecurity were all rooted on equity, fairness and justice.”
So, in trying to solve the problem, we have to now say, okay, how do we build bridges of unity? How do we have a Nigeria that every component part will feel included? That inclusiveness is very important, because the feeling of exclusion is fuelling the agitation. The feeling of exclusion is fuelling the belief that separation is the only way to have a solution.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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