Imo PDP rejects Uzodinma’s address, cites worsening insecurity

The leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State has described Governor Hope Uzodinma’s State of Imo address as dull and uninspiring, filled with old tales and associated with con artists and tricksters.

In a statement issued on Wednesday in Owerri by the State Publicity Secretary of PDP, Lancelot Obiaku, the party rejected Uzodinma’s address claimed that it was no different from the one he delivered a year and a half ago.

The PDP stated that Governor Uzodinma essentially repeated the same script but with an edited version containing a new set of lies and make-believe.

According to Obiaku, the governor again spent considerable time blaming an unnamed opposition for the insecurity that has plagued the state since his controversial rise to power in 2020.

He referred to this as the same old empty rhetoric, adding that Uzodinma falsely claimed his administration had overcome the issue of insecurity. In reality, many areas, including Okigwe, Onuimo, Ihitte-Uboma, Owerri West, Oguta, Ngor-Okpala, Orsu, and Orlu LGAs, remain under siege from hoodlums, kidnappers, terrorists, and organ harvesters.

The party also pointed out that Uzodinma conveniently forgot the tragic incident that occurred on May 6, 2025, when 26 passengers were kidnapped on the Owerri-Aba road, and one of them was reportedly shot dead on the spot by suspected Fulani terrorists. The whereabouts of the remaining 25 are still unknown.

Furthermore, on May 8, in what has become a routine attack in the LGA, unknown gunmen targeted Umuna in the Okigwe LGA, burning over 20 trucks, destroying shops, and reportedly taking more than 20 innocent lives, leaving many families in mourning.

The party also recalled the numerous lives lost in the Agwa community in Oguta LGA, where over 100 people have fallen victim to attacks by suspected Fulani terrorists.

In addition, according to him, Amakohia-Ubi in Owerri West LGA has been experiencing constant lethal attacks from similar sources lately adding that in that community, many cases of kidnapping by the same sect have been recorded.

This is the situation in parts some parts of Avu, Obinze and Okuku, and it is clear that the cases of kidnapping, ritual killings and terrorist attacks on communities are spreading like wildfire across Imo State with many communities now captured by the terrorists.

The party said that Governor Uzodinma’s denial means he saw these recent deadly attacks and deliberately turned a blind eye on them just to pretend that his administration has not failed to secure the lives and property of Imo people.

He said: “This is not just the height of his irresponsibility but also beastly callousness. He does not feel the pain and agony of the people he claims to have been elected to serve. What a failure”.

The PDP publicity Secretary said that to crown it all, after spending over an hour massaging his ego and reeling off his purported achievements, Gov. Uzodinma did not tell Imo people how much has accrued to the State, both as federal allocation to the State and Local Governments, intervention funds, and internally generated revenue, in the last five years, and how they were spent.

The party described it as disturbing that the Governor feels that being accountable means to spend taxpayers’ money every 18 months to organise an expensive State address to blame people and exalt himself as though the governance of the State is his private business while neglecting the nitty-gritty of such an activity.

To the party, Uzodinma could not answer questions about contract claims by his administration to say to whom they were awarded, when, how, and for how much. Where lies accountability and transparency?

They declared that the State of the State Address by Gov. Uzodinma like any other he did in the past is a mere jamboree, worthless and empty.

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