Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has condemned in strong terms the Monday wee hours attacks on facilities belonging to the Police and 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 1,800.

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 Uzodimma 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 the state had already collapsed.

Uzodimma 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.

•PHOTO: From L-R; GOC 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj Gen Taoreed A Lagbaja, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo Agege, addressing newsmen after inspecting the level of damage at the State Police Headquarters, Owerri on Monday by bandits