Uzodinma’s stance on INEC office attack irresponsible, shameful – Imo PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State has raised eyebrows over the statement made by the Governor of the State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, in the aftermath of last night’s attack on INEC office in Owerri, describing it as irresponsible and shameful.

The opposition party’s statement, signed by its Imo State Publicity Secretary, Collins Opurozor, was made available to the media in Owerri, Imo State capital on Monday.

PDP said the insecurity in Imo is simply and squarely a direct consequence of the catastrophic failure of governance in the state under the unpopular regime of Senator Uzodinma.

Recall that Gov. Hope Uzodinma had said that the attack on the headquarters of INEC in Owerri is proof that insecurity in the state is politically motivated.

The governor spoke to journalists at the police headquarters in Owerri where the five lifeless bodies including two of the suspected attackers were paraded.

Reacting to Uzodinma’s claim, PDP said: “This governor can no longer defend his inability to deliver on the primary expectation of political governance, which is the security of lives and property.”

The statement reads: “By the way, what else defines political desperation better than a man who came fourth in an election but usurped the people’s mandate through a judicial heist, and now sees himself as their feudal lord?

“From the first week of January this year to the second week of December, Senator Uzodinma has continued to tell Imo people that his enemies are behind the carnage and ravages going on in the state. He has failed to name the enemies. He has also failed to bring them to book. Instead, he repeats the same thing day after day with the intention of hiding his failures and getting sympathizers.

” Imo PDP regrets that, in view of Senator Uzodinma’s lack of sincerity and genuine commitment to addressing the festering insecurity in the state, the valleys of Orsu, the forests of Orlu and the rocky hills of Okigwe have now become safe havens for terrorists, bandits and kidnappers who now make life a misery for Imo people.

“Our Party holds that the insecurity in Imo is simply and squarely a direct consequence of the catastrophic failure of governance in the state under the unpopular regime of Senator Uzodinma.

“Our Party deems it very important to remind Imo people and Nigerians that, before this latest attack on INEC office in the state, there had been some other desperate efforts by those who came to power through the back door to undermine the capacity of INEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the state.

“First, INEC came under a very brutal legal attack through a secret court action instituted in the state by those same usurpers. They had sought to stop the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), a technology they feared would frustrate their plot to manipulate the forthcoming elections.

“Second, INEC’s database was attacked and the voter register massively compromised, particularly for Omuma Ward, where tens of thousands of fake, alien and non-existent names and photographs were smuggled into the register. That is what Nigerians now refer to as the Omuma Magic!

“It is telling, not just that Omuma is the hometown of Senator Hope Uzodinma, but also that the regime in Imo quickly arrested and arbitrarily detained the INEC officials who were accused of bringing to public knowledge the monumental voters register fraud in Omuma.

“Our Party, therefore, continues to condemn these legal, cyber and physical attacks on INEC and asks security agencies to probe beneath the surface to establish possible links which the secret court action against INEC and an earlier attack on INEC voters register might have with the recent attack on INEC Office in Owerri. Those found guilty of one cannot file a disclaimer over the others.”