The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Imo State has described president Muhammadu Buhari’s visit as a deliberate ploy to mock the people of Imo state.
According to the PDP, neither the president nor the governor has shown concern for the plight of the people. It also alleged that both president Buhari and governor Hope Uzodimma are the cause and source of the on going war of attrition in the State.
The party in a statement by Ogubundu Nwadike , its state publicity Secretary, said that ordinarily, a presidential visit should be a grand event but that the people of the state are not elated.
The party said: “Ordinarily, the people of Imo state are expected to be elated at the prospect of the visit of the president.
“But we note with regret that these familiar feelings and moods are absent in the case of the presidential visit to Imo state. Rather than be expectant and elated, the people are actually wondering what the president is coming to do in Imo State. Their feeling of loss and consternation derives from the emptiness and despondency that pervades the atmosphere in the state.
“In recent months, Imo, once a land of peace, was forcibly turned into a theatre of war. A phenomenon called unknown gun men reared its ugly head to the amazement of the people of the state. It was expected that the governor would toe the path of peace and arrest the slide. Instead, he exacerbated an already bad situation through inflammatory words and actions.
”Today, Imo knows no peace principally because the governor is on the warpath.
This situation was not helped by the angry and unstatemanly remarks of Mr president who threatened war and brimstone over separatist agitations. The unfortunate outcome of all this was the innumerable extra-judicial killings that took place in the state in the name of seeking out and fighting separatists.
“Imo under Governor Hope Uzodinma is a police state. Basic freedoms of the people have been curtailed while an army of occupation reigns and rules in the land. The entire scenario leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Beyond all this, the governor has been running a government from exile. He is known to be an absentee governor who visits the state whenever he deems fit.
“It is also a well known fact that the governor has done very little to improve the infrastructural status of the state. There are no projects in any sector of the economy. In fact, the little economy the state had has been eroded by bad governance. Today, petroleum marketers in the state have jerked up pump prices of petroleum products because there is no government to negotiate with them over their grievances.
“We note also that neither the president nor the governor has shown concern for the plight of the people. If anything, they are the source and cause of the ongoing war of attrition in the state. The presidential visit will therefore leave a bitter taste in the mouth.
“For us in PDP, the presidential visit is a deliberate ploy to mock the people of the state to their very face. This is callous and inhuman. Consequently, we invite the president, if he is really the father of the nation, to use the occasion of his visit to look inwards with a view to righting the grave wrongs he has done to the people of the state. The president can show some humility and remorse and use the occasion to mend fences with the people.
“The president should also use his good offices to clip the wings of the governor who runs the state from outside. A mere fanfare will not help the bad situation in the state. Rather, it will generate more anger and acrimony.”
