Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has dismissed reports that he advised Igbo youths to stand with the embattled suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, currently being investigated by the authorities of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for alleged complicity in drug-related matters, as fake, mischievous and the handiwork of opposition politicians.
In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser, Oguwike Nwachuku, yesterday, the governor, who described the report as “baseless and useless piece of nonsense”, said the authors have proven time and again that they work for the opposition politicians, who think that the only way they can play politics in Imo State is to deceive members of the public with imaginary tales around Governor Uzodimma, rather than devote their time to constructive criticisms about government and its programmes.
The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to a piece of trash trending on social media, where Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State was mischievously credited to have advised the Igbo youth to stand with the embattled suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, currently being investigated by the authorities of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for alleged complicity in drug-related matters.
“The authors of the poorly-scripted report had thought that the best way to deceive their audience was to claim that Governor Uzodimma gave the advice at a media briefing, in Owerri, without letting the same audience know the venue and occasion the governor spoke.
“…At a time Imo people are celebrating the giant strides Governor Uzodimma’s administration has recorded in the area of road infrastructure, medicare, security, agriculture, education, urban renewal, recovery of stolen property, et al, just two years in the saddle, the only thing that appeals to the enemies of progress of Imo State is the recourse to fake news on the embattled Abba Kyari’s matter, using the governor’s name to give semblance of credibility to their mischief.
Because the authors of the rubbish are simply harebrained crackpots, they think they can dabble into any issue, such as the current ordeal involving Abba Kyar, politicise it, regardless of the weighty legal implications.
As pedestrian as the authors of the report and their sponsors are in their reasoning, they may not have known that they have disclosed to the relevant authorities investigating Abba Kyari that they, too, can help them with information at their own disposal to get to the root of the matter.
We just hope they will not go under or shy away when they are needed by the detectives to throw more light on the matter.”
