Lead opposition party in Imo State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said Governor Hope Uzodimma lacks the moral right to seek a second term in office.
The PDP publicity secretary in Imo State, Collins Opurozor, who made the claim while addressing newsmen at the party secretariat yesterday, charged Uzodimma not to seek reelection because his senatorial zone had held power for 20 years running.
Opurozor said “Uzodinma should not present himself as a candidate in the forthcoming governorship election, since he hails from Orlu zone that has held power for twenty years in the last twenty-four years. Those backing his inordinate ambition do not mean well for the state, and they must stop forthwith”, he said.
According to him, the briefing was to puncture the lies of the state government against the PDP, saying it was “shameful that while Imo people are slaughtered daily by terrorists, the only thing Senator Uzodinma thinks of is how to politicise and profit from the unfortunate situation. It is irresponsible that a government would seek to frame its perceived foes with insecurity, which it has an obligation to solve”.
Opurozor accused Uzodimma and the state Information commissioner, Chief Declan Emelumba of deliberate campaigns of “misinformation, lies and deceit as its only strategy to attempt the uphill and impossible task of its re-election in November”, he said.
He party spokesman said the alleged planned protest in Abuja by PDP and insecurity of the state levelled against them were lies, and enjoined people to ignore them.
He alleged Uzodimma has plunged the state into debt claiming that Imo was the most indebted Igbo state.
“Imo is presently the most indebted Igbo state, with a debt profile which stands at N240 billion. That means that the regime of Senator Uzodinma has doubled the debt profile in the last three years. And the fundamental question is what has the regime done with over N130 billion it has borrowed so far”, Opurozor queried.
According to him, more “than half of Imo territory is presently under the occupation of bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and other non-state actors who levy death upon Imo people day after day. Farmers have abandoned their farmlands and the logical outcome has been unprecedented rise in poverty and starvation, including crime”.
The PDP spokesperson said contrary to the allegation of moribund Imo, Uzodimma met a thriving state, saying “But the truth is that Imo state was a paradise before his coming. Charmed by the glory he saw, Senator Uzodinma, while taking his oath of office, vowed to continue with all the lofty initiatives of the past PDP administration. Unfortunately, he has now plunged Imo into a cemetery. A state that knew no violence is now a city of blood and valley of death”.
Opurozor said health was on decline in the state. He said “It is worrisome that health prospects in Imo are getting poorer every day in view of the failure of this government to formulate health policy for nearly four years. In 2019, Imo had an unemployment rate of 28%. But today, the State has become the unemployment capital of Nigeria with over 60% unemployment rate. This is disastrous, and it is at the heart of the insecurity in the State, because when people find a pathway out of poverty, they can hardly resort to crime. Imo has gone to the dogs”.
Further, he said “this failed government, which has made incessant borrowings a state policy, has now sent Imo into irredeemable debt slavery. Make no mistakes, debt instruments are supposed to be development tools which governments deploy for raising the financial and socio-economic wellbeing of their entities. The implication is that loans are invariably obtained so as to invest in those programs, initiatives and projects which have the prospect of turning around the economic circumstances of the borrowing entities and affording them the capacity not just to repay in future but also to create sustainable growth”.
Opurozor called on Imo people to continue to discard what he described as “every misinformation being peddled by the outgoing government. Imo people must never reinforce failure. Everyone in the State should now come out, join hands with PDP and participate in the electoral process, with a clear and patriotic objective of permanently sending this failed regime packing in November, so as to reclaim our State and make it safe again with Senator Samuel Anyanwu”.
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