Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.
Uche Onyeagucha, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) 2023 Imo East Senatorial candidate, said yesterday that the situation in Imo State was devolving into anarchy.
This was stated in Owerri by his Special Assistant on Media, Macdonald Ebere, in response to the alleged killings by the government’s Ebubeagu security outfit and the closure of the Oziza FM Radio station by the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC.
Onyeagucha described the situation in Imo State as “provocative and disheartening.”
“The PDP Candidate for Imo East Senatorial District, Uche Onyeagucha, has observed with concern the recent closure of the state’s Catholic-owned radio station, Oziza 96.1 FM, by the National Broadcasting Corporation,” according to the statement.
“Onyeagucha notes that the latest action by Senator Hope Uzodimma’s oppressive regime, following the gruesome slaughter of fourteen innocent Imo youths at Otulu, is provocative and disheartening.”
“Unfortunately, rather than appealing to God for self-cleansing, Senator Uzodimma persuaded the NBC to shut down Oziza FM for exposing his administration’s nefarious activities and exposing to the public, his slaughtering spree in Imo State, particularly in the Orlu zone, using his Ebubeagu militia.”
“The radio station’s closure is nothing more than a calculated ploy by Governor Uzodimma to silence the press and other democratic voices in the state.” We strongly condemn Senator Hope Uzodimma’s draconian, strong-arm, and headmasters/bravado tactics to blatantly stifle free speech and press independence in the state.
“We call on Imolites, the Catholic community, and people of good conscience to rise in solidarity against the state government’s continued degeneration of Imo State into a state of lawlessness where democratic voices are silenced,” he said.
Imo women and youths demonstrate against Ebubeagu
Meanwhile, hundreds of women and youths in Imo State’s Oguta local government area staged a protest yesterday, demanding that the government’s Ebubeagu security outfit be barred from operating in Oguta after they allegedly killed a youth named Kelechi Ogbonna last Sunday.
The women dressed in black moved the protest around the community and to the nearby Oguta Divisional Police Station to present their demands.
They stated that they were protesting in order to obtain justice for the victim, Ogbonna. They also said Ebubeagu should leave because they were afraid that if they stayed in the community, they would exterminate all the youths.
According to one of the protesters, a woman, whose video went viral on social media during the demonstrations while speaking to police officers at the Oguta Police station, “Please tell the police to tell the Ebubeagu security outfit to leave our community before they kill all our youths.”
“We are now terrified. Every day, people are killed. Our youth are perishing. Our youth are being killed and shot by the Ebubeagu people. We desire to be alive. We don’t want to perish at the hands of the Ebubeagu.
“Please come and save us. Tell them to leave our community so that the land can be at peace. Ebubeagu should be removed before they render us childless.”
Protests against the operation of the government’s Ebubeagu security outfit were still taking place in parts of the state’s Oguta local government area at the time of filing this report.
