The Imo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the state has completely collapsed under the administration of Governor Hope Uzodimma.
According to the party, the two years of Sen. Hope Uzodimma are years of desperate usurpation, bloodshed, treasury looting, starvation and hopelessness.
In a statement by the State Publicity Secretary, Mazi Emenike Mmeregini on Monday, the party described Senator Uzodimma’s government as an illegitimate regime without remorse adding that his administration has abdicated the primary obligation of government as prescribed by the Constitution, which is the security of lives and property.
The Party also accused the administration of Uzodimma of politicizing an unfortunate security situation in the state which has continued to gulp countless innocent lives, every day.
The Party said: “Today, bandits, terrorists, cannibals, kidnappers and unknown gunmen are almost overrunning the State”.
The party leadership described it as curious that Senator Uzodinma, until now, is yet to refute a very weighty allegation by the Senator representing his own senatorial district Sen. Rochas Okorocha who accused him of being a mastermind of a deadly hit squad that is backed by his administration.
According to the statement, most areas in the Orlu zone are currently under the firm grip of gunmen, a situation that has thousands of our citizens internally displaced.
The party, however, expressed regret that Senator Uzodinma suspended and summarily dismantled all the foundations and programmes which the PDP Rebuild Imo administration painstakingly put in place in all the sectors towards the rebuilding of Imo State.
The Party said: “our PDP led government commenced the Treasury Single Account, Autonomy for local government system, Technical and Skills Development Colleges, Automated Payment System for prompt payment of salaries and pensions, agricultural revolution, infrastructural revolution, civil service reform, the revival of ISOPADEC, Technology and ICT development, qualitative free education etc.”
The PDP said that other programmes of the Rebuild Imo Administration were equally dumped by Uzodinma even when he embarked on a borrowing spree, in most cases, nocturnally, which has placed Imo as the most indebted state in the entire South East.
It described it as worrisome given that the regime still cannot point to any landmark project it has done in two years to justify the huge borrowings.
The party pointed out that last year, the regime accessed over N59 billion loans from foreign and domestic sources adding that his year, 2022, Senator Uzodinma has perfected plans to borrow an additional N61 billion.
It said: “when added, well over N103 billion which has come to the local government areas from FAAC under Uzodinma, the N105 billion which has come to the State also from FAAC, the N24 billion which the State has internally generated and the N10 billion which represents the 13% oil derivation, it is heartbreaking that there is nothing in Imo to show for the monies”.
According to them within the years under review, Senator Uzodinma has had neither a well-researched policy nor direction in the various sectors of the state describing it as the calamity that has befallen our State.
The PDP, however, noted with great pain that within two years, Senator Uzodinma has made our state, Imo, the unemployment capital of Nigeria.
It expressed great shock that the relevant rating board, the Presidential Business Enabling Environment Council, has consistently placed Imo at the lowest rung of the ladder in terms of ease of doing business in Nigeria.
“Worse still, within two years, our state ranks highest in the South East in terms of infant and maternal mortality rate.”
PDP observed with dismayed that in the past two years, Senator Uzodinma has willfully denied workers and retirees their salaries and pensions adding that when workers stage protests, they are tagged fake and brutalized by agents of the government.
The Party equally observed that the local government system has been completely emasculated, defunded and stripped of autonomy, thus, giving way to mass misery at the grassroots.
While encouraging the people of Imo State to keep the spirit alive, the party leaders insisted that the regime must expire very soon to give way for a PDP led government for the good of the people.
