Imo governor blames insecurity on opposition

Governor Hope Uzodimma yesterday blamed the opposition for the worsening insecurity in Nigeria.

He called on politicians to play politics without bitterness.

The governor said states controlled mostly by the All Progressives Congress (APC) were mostly affected.

“I am no longer in doubt about those sponsoring banditry in Nigeria,” he told reporters after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

The governor dismissed suggestions that those in the ruling APC could be behind the security crises.

He said: “If anybody’s telling you that the government in power is sponsoring banditry, how and why?

“How can anybody even think of a government sponsoring banditry in a country they are in charge of?

“If that is correct, assuming that is a possibility, how many states governed by opposition parties are under this kind of attack that we hear from Kaduna every day?

“So, if we are ones, why are we attacking our own states? Why are we going to be enemies and opposition to our own governments?

”Among those that have been killed and houses that were attacked, how many of those buildings belong to the opposition party?

“Am I supposed to be attacking and burning down my own house? Or do you think the Ebonyi governor will burn down his own house? Or did the Kaduna governor burn down facilities in his government?

“So, we should be able to ask questions, not only as media practitioners but as Nigerian citizens.

“I use this medium to call on Nigerian politicians to play politics without bitterness and stop bloodletting here and there in the name of looking for power.

“I am no longer in doubt as to who are the sponsors of banditry in Nigeria.

“Those who want to make Nigeria ungovernable cannot be the people governing Nigeria, currently.

“Nigerians should be more patriotic, our national interest should be uppermost in our minds.”

Uzodimma said he invited the President to inaugurate the Owerri-Orlu Road and the Owerri-Okigwe Road next month.

He also briefed the President on “the recent resurgence of banditry and the efforts we have made to contain the situation”.