Former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has been accused by the state government of being the mastermind of attacks on correctional facility in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
Recall that the gunmen also attacked the Police Headquarters and burnt the building and all vehicles within the vicinity.
The Commissioner for Information in the state, Declan Emelumba, in a statement claimed that the lawmaker representing Imo West Senatorial District engaged thugs whom he had granted amnesty to unleash violence on the state.
Emelumba said the aim was to force the Nigerian government to declare a state of emergency in Imo.
He further stated that the state government is aware of how a special adviser to Okorocha procured the thugs that invaded Owerri on Monday.
According to him, the fact that Okorocha sponsored some Northern youths who called for the declaration of a state of emergency in Imo state, barely hours after the attacks, made him a culprit.
Emelumba alleged that Okorocha wants to get back at the state Governor for insisting on the implementation of the White Paper that indicted him for looting the state and grabbing people’s lands.
“Recall that the man had gone to court to stop the commission from sitting. When that failed, he approached Governor Uzodinma to disband the panels.
“When that failed, he resorted to violence to repossess property government had sealed.
That is the motive for the attacks,” the commissioner said.
Displaying a purported copy of a press statement by the Northern youths where they castigated Uzodinma but praised Okorocha, Emelumba said it was not rocket science for people to know the person behind the attacks.
He added that it was not a coincidence that the former governor had not condemned the attacks.
“How come the former governor is not condemning the attacks if not because it is his brainchild’
