President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the deployment of additional security personnel to address violence and ensure peace in Imo State.
Governor Hope Uzodimma disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of his summon to Presidential Villa, Abuja, by the president on Monday.
According to the governor, the president has agreed to his request for more security personnel to address the security challenges facing the state.
The governor was summoned following the latest attacks in Imo State targeting the home of Professor George Obiozor, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and some police assets.
Uzodinma, who confirmed that the meeting was on the insecurity in his state and the South-East, said: “Generally, it is the subject of insecurity in the South East and what is required to ensure that is properly controlled.
“We discussed that and he took my recommendations seriously and indeed I tell you, he immediately gave approval to all that which include an increase in manpower of security agencies and then logistics support ranging from additional arms and ammunition.”
In his efforts to meet aggrieved parties as promised, he said his administration had continued to reach out to aggrieved politicians in the state in a bid to carry them along so that they could contribute their quota to the growth and development of the state.
He said: “Since January 2020 when I came to office, one of the things I initiated was quarterly stakeholders’ meetings.
“As a matter of fact, I have had six stakeholders’ engagements. And the purpose of that engagement is to create a platform where the stakeholders will meet and will also act as an opinion poll to involve people in governance and that has yielded a lot of positive results.
“Arising from that, we have also done one on one engagement with some critical stakeholders.
“For those who are aggrieved, I don’t know if those grievances are against the government or against individuals.
“But those who think are part of the political system that are not contributing positively to the current administration, we’re also reaching out to them.
“Of course, I know if anything is to go by, some of the reasonable ones have started coming back.
“If you have been following the politics of Imo of late, given the evolution we have just deployed to rescue the infrastructure that was almost absent and our achievements so far, it has attracted a lot of support from our people.
“Leaders from Imo are together and united in commending our efforts. And if you can go to Imo State and be on the ground, apart from some dissenting voices that are on your social media, I think the state is almost recovered and we’re doing very, very well.
“So, there’s no need at this point in time for people to be aggrieved over what is not in existence.”
