- Gov makes generous donation to Police
Amby Uneze in Owerri and David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has been severely criticised by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for relieving commissioners and local government chairmen in the state of their appointment, claiming the governor punished them for allowing the recently held sit-at-home protest ordered by IPOB succeed in their areas.
But, in what appears to be, a bid to strengthen the hand of security agencies in the state, the governor has donated a college of administration, a 200-bed hospital, mobile squadron unit and workshops to the Nigeria Police. He also promised to build a new befitting headquarters for the state police command.
The Governor noted that the current Police headquarters in the state does not reflect the level of progress or development in the state at the moment.
Okorocha spoke glowingly about his past contribution to the police made the offer during a courtesy visit to his office by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris. He thanked the IGP for the helicopter released to Imo State for surveillance.
However, a statement by the IPOB accused Okorocha of working in concert with the federal government to stop the scheduled protest in his state, “but was irked that residents of the state decided to shun his antics to stand with the group.â€
According to the group, the sack of his commissioners and local government caretaker committee chairmen was as a result of the inability of the commissioners and transitional chairmen in all the 27 Local Government Areas of Imo State to move into the villages and communities to sensitize them to boycott the sit-at-home.â€
The sit-at-home order was issued by the IPOB leadership led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on May 30 in remembrance of Igbos who died in the Nigerian Civil War. Government and private commercial offices were shut and people stayed off the streets in many states in the south east of Nigeria.
Scoring himself high in the area of security, Okorocha described Imo as the most peaceful state in the country, stating that in the past six years, his administration was able to prove that “development and crime have no relationship because there are less crime where there is development than.”
The governor explained that his administration recently empowered 3,500 women with N100,000 each and made another 305 youths millionaires by giving them N1million each, adding that these gestures have helped in reducing crime in the state.
The IG also unveiled about 20 security patrol cars donated to the Nigeria police by the state government.
