The incoming PDP administration in Imo State has faulted last Thursday’s meeting of the National Council of Traditional Rulers in Owerri, alleging that it was another plot by the out-going APC government in the state to loot the finances of the state. In a statement signed by the state Secretary of the party, Ray Emeana, the PDP described the meeting as ill-conceived as the summit had nothing to do with post-elections peace process in the country.

The PDP alleged that, “The peace conference/summit was a meeting of a faction of APC in the state being passed on as a South East event for the sole purpose of further looting Imo dry in the mid of non-payment of salaries, several years of pension areas in Imo State.” The statement further read, “The PDP in Imo State is not deceived as the true aim and intention of the so-called summit as checks have revealed that the National Council of Traditional Rulers has nothing to do with the so-called summit.

“This gathering is nothing but a decoy by the out-going Gov. Rochas Okorocha to further loot the resources of the state and use the summit to launder his battered image hoping that the presidency and the northern cabal will weigh-in and arm-twist the INEC to release a result procured under duress as the Senator-elect of Imo North. “Unfortunately, this scam, like many others in the last one week, will fall flat. Imo people and indeed Nigerians have rejected Gov. Okorocha and what he stands for. The only path of honour left for him is to face the reality of being held accountable for the monumental fraud committed by him and his cohorts, post May 29, 2019,” PDP added. The party wondered why prominent traditional rulers in the South East were not part of the summit and what informed the choice of Owerri as the venue of the meeting, adding that, “If anything, Rochas Okorocha should render an apology to Imo people for the violence, mayhem, intimidation and brutality which he visited on Nde Imo during the last elections.”

•Text (excluding headline) courtesy of Daily Trust)