Imo State Government says it holds the opposition responsible for the mayhem experienced recently in Orlu, saying the people were fed with lies that the Uzodimma administration had reserved lands for cattle grazing.
Commissioner for information and strategy Mbadiwe Emelumba stated this on Wednesday during a live programme on Darling FM, Owerri.
He said: “The opposition has been peddling this falsehood that government reserved acres of land for herdsmen in Imo State. They kept peddling that lie repeatedly until, maybe IPOB believed it and started going about, looking for where a non-existent land was. That was part of the genesis of the crisis.
“The government holds the opposition squarely responsible for this, because they knew that what they were saying was not true and they kept sending that message across. It was just like when they said that government wanted to rename Imo State University to Abba Kyari University. There was also a time they said that the governor was establishing Almajiri school.
“These are lies and we know they are lies, but they keep peddling them. They use it to incite insurrection. We know those who are responsible for this and they will definitely account for their action because you can’t cause this level of carnage on a people, based on fabrication of lies and hope to get away with it.”
Mr Emelumba said that whether it was the Eastern Security Network or an incitement or a combination of militant group and others acting on the background, he added that “those who are behind it know themselves”.
