Izombe Violence: PDP Should Add No Insult To Injury; This Is Not Time For Petty Politics

GLOBAL ASSOCIATION OF CONCERNED IMO YOUTHS (GACIY)

PRESS RELEASE

IZOMBE VIOLENCE: PDP SHOULD ADD NO INSULT TO INJURY; THIS IS NOT TIME FOR PETTY POLITICS

We are pained by the loss of lives and property flowing from an altercation between military operatives, suspected oil thieves, and irate youths in Izombe, Oguta LGA in Imo State, and offer our heartfelt condolences to families bereaved as a result.

Whereas a formal investigation is underway, eye witness accounts detail how things quickly escalated after a youth died as soldiers reportedly tried to bust an illegal oil bunkering syndicate in Izombe on Friday. Ostensibly, this sparked anger as irate youths took laws into their own hands lynching two soldiers and torching a patrol van in the process. The military is said to have reinforced and launched a counter attack in a bid to recover stolen arms and arrest perpetrators.

Besides categorically and unequivocally condemning this latest eruption of violence in our dear state, GACIY demands a comprehensive investigation with a view to bringing culpable parties to book.

Unfortunately, the PDP has no interest in truth, fact, or justice but in spreading a fabricated version of events just to turn the masses of Imo against Governor Hope Uzodinma.

In a tissue of lies titled “Uzodinma: the blood, the fire, the tears in Izombe”, the PDP – a cyber terrorist organization infamous for cloning national tabloids, coalescing with non-state actors, raising false alarm, and the serial sabotage of Imo – tried miserably to indict Governor Uzodinma in the Izombe violence all to no avail. The party claims that Governor Uzodinma flagged off a “military campaign exactly like the infamous Operation Python Dance”, and that “Uzodinma openly promised to personally reward the officers and men if they succeeded at the tasks for which they were called upon”, adding that he called the army to settle a dispute between warring factions of oil thieves in Izombe when things got out of hand.

Obviously the devil has made work for the idle hands at the PDP Secretariat, but it should be noted that:

1) on Tuesday Oct 5, 2021, the Nigerian Army, in partnership with sister security agencies, launched 3 new field exercises namely Still Water, Enduring Peace and Golden Dawn to be conducted simultaneously in the South-West/South-South, North-Central, and South-East respectively for a period of 3 months.

2) in line with convention, governors in the catchment area performed flag-offs even as the Army Medical Corps offered and still offer free medical services to host communities. Governor Hope Uzodinma’s was no exception.

3) it is unheard of, and underscores the PDP’s cognitive deficit, that a governor will issue marching orders or any kind of order for that matter to the armed forces under what ever guise. Governor Uzodinma should rather be praised for incentivizing our troops to expel criminal elements terrorising Imo people in recent times.

4) in February 2020, Orluzurumee Youth Assembly cautioned the erstwhile deputy governor in the sacked PDP regime after he was allgedly caught on tape swearing that “Imo would have no governor, and the people would enjoy no more governance”, if the Supreme Court failed to reinstate his illegal administration. The PDP, in all its self righteousness, has neither rebuked its belligerent leader nor distanced itself from his vile threat.

5) the PDP’s resort to false alarm, threat, and blackmail whenever Governor Uzodinma moves to boost security confirms our position that it has a hand in the security challenges confronting the state, perhaps in keeping with its promised jihad against Imo people.

6) no where in the PDP’s tissue of lies did the so-called opposition party offer succour to the affected. Clearly, its mission objective is to mock the dead, and inflame passion. Comforting the grieving is ruled out.

In the short term, GACIY urges government to immediately dispatch relief to Izombe and take every step to forestall further breakdown of law and order in the area even as it urges the military to strictly abide by rules of engagement.

In investigating the Izombe violence, we encourage the police and indeed the wider intelligence world to look beyond the facade of the PDP and seriously explore its connection to the pattern of recent violent crime in Imo, taking a cue from a flurry of living threats pronounced by its leaders who are out to repossess Imo by all means.

Signed:

Collins Ughalaa KSC
(Convener).
October 11, 2021.