The Civil Rights Advocacy group-: Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned in the strongest possible terms, the violent kidnap by armed kidnappers, of the newly installed Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Owerri Roman Catholic Archdiocese, His Eminence, Rt. Reverend Dr. Moses Chikwe in Owerri just as the Rights group said the situation in Owerri and the entire Imo State calls for deeper introspection as the state’s political leadership is rudderless and ruthlessly incompetent. HURIWA also lamented that Imo State House of Assembly seems to be dominated by political nitwits and praise singers of the poorly performing governor of Imo State Mr. Hope Uzodinma who uses media propaganda and subterfuge as methodologies of governance which are not workable in a constitutional democracy.
HURIWA said the criminal and treacherous act of forcefully abducting the revered Church leader by armed kidnappers has demonstrated that indeed the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to impose as governor someone who came fourth in an election for the governor of Imo State in 2019 was targeted at destroying good governance in the heartland of Igbo land and is a calculated and choreographed drama from the topmost echelons of the central government to deny the Igbo speaking areas the opportunity to determine who governs them.
“The entire Imo State is in a state of political and economic paralysis just as there is a total absence of any semblance of governance but what is on ground is a rule by mobsters and has been converted to a place whereby raw might is right and has progressively become a primitive state of nature whereby life is short, bruttish, uninteresting, deadly and bloody. If nothing is done, pretty soon the violent criminals will up their deadly game and turn Imo State to a Kingsom of armed non state actors and robbers”.
The Rights group said the cases of violent kidnappings have resurfaced in Imo state since the emergence of Mr. Hope Uzodinma who rose on the back of a very toxic and dangerous verdict of the Supreme Court of Nigeria headed by the incompetent and highly partisan Justice Tanko Muhammad.
The Rights Advocacy group-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has called for the dismissal of the Commissioner of Police in Imo State, the State’ Director of Department of States Services (DSS) and the State’s Commandant of the Civil Defence Force for their abysmal performance in the area of securing the lives and property of the good people of Imo State.
The Rights group which wondered what nature of security Council is in place in the state when most of those manning the security offices are strangers who are simply here for posting but are not used to the terrain and topography of Imo State and never bothered to learn and improve themselves with hard core intelligence on how to rid the state of dangerous criminals who are running riots all over the state that looks like no man’s land.
HURIWA said the Police in Imo State are not present in about seventy percent of the geographical areas of Imo State but are found on the Okigwe to Owerri badly damaged Federal Highway and the Owerri to Orlu state owned road or the Owerri to Onitsha highway where they engage in violent and threatening extortion of commuters and drivers who ply the terribly destroyed only few central government’s owned national road infrastructures in Imo State.
“The reason there is total breakdown of Law and order in Imo State is that the person who ought to be in-charge as the political leader of the State is too busy chasing shadows and engaging in shadow boxing with his political rivals such as his party man, the Senator representing the governor’s constituency in the national Assembly Mr. Rochas Okorocha whose eight years governance of Imo State totally decapitated the social amenities of the state and left the state in a state of near- comatose which has been worsened by the coming of Hope Uzodinma who was imposed when the Supreme Court illegally unseated Emeka Ihedioha popularly thought to have won the 2019 governorship poll in Imo state beating Hope Uzodima who came a distant fourth with a wife margin “.
HURIWA quoting the media stated that armed kidnappers reportedly whisked away the Auxiliary Bishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese in Imo State, Moses Chikwe. HURIWA learnt that the bishop was kidnapped at the World Bank area of Owerri, the state capital.He was reportedly kidnapped on Sunday night alongside his driver whose name was not stated.
HURIWA recalled that the the bishop’s car and official regalia were later found near the Assumpta Cathedral in Owerri.even as a statement released by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria said the Archbishop of the Diocese, Victor Obinna, confirmed the kidnap. The statement signed by Secretary-General of the Secretariat, Zacharia Sanjumi, called for prayers for the safe return of the cleric.The kidnap comes barely a week after the kidnap in the state of another Catholic cleric, Valentine Ezeagu.The priest was kidnapped on December 15 by gunmen, as he was on his way to bury his late father. The priest who belongs to the Sons of Mary Mother of Mercy (SMMM), congregation, Umuahia, was later released by his kidnappers.
HURIWA which blames the total lack of civil governance in Imo State asserted that there is no functional or vibrant governance because from the look of things all around Imo State starting from the lawless approach adopted by commercial and private car drivers on all the bad roads that dots Imo State, you can see that in Imo state it is the bad case and scenario of the survival of the fittest as the police and other armed security forces are either attached to politicians and rich elite and not one policeman is seen anywhere controlling the lawless drivers. There is serious problem when a state like Imo state does not have a committed and sincerely devoted governor and that is why there is a state of anarchy everywhere. There is the urgent need for the masses of Imo State to speak out and demand accountability and action from the persons elected to the State House of Assembly to behave like human beings and provide lawful guidance on how best the state ought to be piloted for the good and happiness of the greatest percentage of the people of Imo State. This state of anarchy, doom and rudderless leadership will lead inevitably to a total breakdown of Law and order sooner than expected.
