Imo State Governor, Hopse Uzodimma, on Tuesday said despite that his predecessor, Rochas Okorocha, has left office, he still wanted to be governor.
The governor also on Tuesday failed to make public the names of those allegedly sponsoring the insecurity ravaging the state.
He had in December announced that he would name those sponsoring banditry in the state on January 3 and later postponed it to January 4.
But on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ meeting which held at the Government House in Owerri, the governor said he would allow security agents to arrest and prosecute those who were emboldening criminals to attacking the state.
He however asked Okorocha to allow him to rule the state in peace.
Uzodimma, who said that he would allow security operatives to conclude their investigation, said Okorocha had refused to acknowledge that he ( Okorocha) is no longer the governor of the state.
He said “Let us allow the security agencies to finish their investigation and reveal the names of the sponsors of insecurity and they will be arrested.
“The difference between former Governor Okorocha and others who have ruled this state is that he wants to be the governor when he is out of office.
“Okorocha is the only governor that wants to take this state alone for himself. He should allow me to rule this state as the governor. I am his elder brother and I deserve some respect from him. We cannot allow one person to hold this state hostage.”
But Okorocha’s spokesman, Sam Onwuemeodo, faulted Uzodimma for failing to name sponsors of insecurity in the state as promised.
Onwuemeodo, in a press statement, asked Uzodimma to stop politicising security matters.
The statement read, “Governor Hope Uzodinma had ended his much orchestrated stakeholders meeting on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 and at the end of the day, he failed or refused to name sponsors of insecurity in the state, after much noise to that effect.
“The governor was quoted to have said that, he would allow security agencies to investigate the culprits and bring them to book.”
