Correctional Services in Owerri, the Imo State capital, expressing
regrets and calling for thorough investigation into the dastard act.
Criminal elements claiming to be members of the Indigenous Peoples of
Biafra (IPOB), had attacked the Imo State Police headquarters and Owerri
Correctional Services Centre with dynamite, destroying buildings,
vehicles and other sensitive official materials and unlawfully setting
free inmates which the authorities said were more than 1800.
Speaking to newsmen after a tour of the two institutions in the company
of Chiefs of other security agencies like the Army, DSS, Civil Defence,
the Police, and the Correctional Services Centre, Governor Uzodimma said
the attacks were both cowardly and politically motivated.
He said the primary intendment of the IPOB members who carried out the
attack was to create fears in the minds of the people and at the same
time strive to secure the release of their fellow criminals in custody.
However, Governor Uzodinma noted that government was on top of the
situation knowing full well that the primary reason government exists is
the protection of lives and property of the citizenry.
He said he had met with the heads of security agencies in the state to
evaluate the incident and was confident the situation had been brought
under control. ” We are on top of the situation and there is no need for
undue anxiety,” the governor said.
He said given the magnitude of the attacks, the damage done and
sophisticated weapons deployed in the attack, he had directed that a
comprehensive investigation into the situation be carried out with a
view to establishing the faces behind the heinous crime.
The governor reiterated that the plan of the perpetrators of the
despicable atrocity which was to cause panic and fear in he state had
already collapsed.
Governor Uzodinma urged Imo citizens and visitors alike to go about
their normal businesses without fear of molestation, noting that
government was abreast of the situation and will do all within her
behest to protect the lives and property of residents.
He also used the opportunity to advise parents to rein in their wards
and resist the temptation to being used as cannon fodder in a war of
attrition being orchestrated by desperate politicians hiding behind
criminal elements.