PDP to drag Uzodimma to ICC over killings in Imo

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By Athan Agbakwuru, Owerri

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Imo State Chapter, has announced its intention to drag Governor Hope Uzodimma and other principal officers of the state government to the International Criminal Court, ICC, over what it called the mass extrajudicial killings in the state.

The party hinted that it had gathered and recorded all cases of extrajudicial killings and gross human rights violations in the state under the present administration of Governor Hope Uzodimma and would not allow the crimes against Imo people go unpunished.

Addressing a world press conference in Owerri on Sunday, Imo PDP state publicity secretary, Collins Opuruzor, disclosed that his party has followed up the matter with the Embassies and High Commissions of all the American and European countries in Nigeria to attract travel ban sanctions against the governor and his cohorts.

He said, “Gentlemen of the Press, our Party has documented all these cases of extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses in the State, and has now commenced the process of presenting them before the International Criminal Court, so that principal officials of this anti-people government can answer to their heinous crimes against humanity.”

“We have also pursued this matter with the Embassies and High Commissions of all the American and European countries to ensure that a total and immediate visa ban is enforced on Senator Hope Uzodinma and officials of his regime.”

Lamenting the festering insecurity in the state which what it termed an existential threat to everyone living Imo, the PDP said it is dismayed by the “alarming incompetence, lack of focus and total failure of the outgoing government of Senator Hope Uzodinma to tame this rampaging monster of insecurity for more than two years.

He added, “It is troubling to note that the size of Imo territory that has now been overrun and occupied by killers, arsonists, kidnappers and bandits is larger than the territories of Malta and Vatican City put together. The largest senatorial district in the State, which is Orlu, has been abandoned, economic activities crippled and over a million residents displaced. The Okigwe Zone has also become a warfront. Parts of Owerri Zone are fast becoming engulfed in this fire of insecurity. If we do not act now, every Imo person may soon become a refugee in other parts of the country.”

“Traditional rulers are now brutally murdered. In some instances, they are beheaded and their bodies dumped in the streets. Judges are dragged out from their courtrooms and slaughtered like rams. In the last seven days, two Catholic priests have been abducted and their whereabouts still unknown. Things have fallen apart, and Imo has become a wasteland”, he added.