Penultimate week, the story went viral that Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, was attacked on a visit to a community in Ohaji. The governor, the story said, was saved by his Security aides, who quickly whisked him away to safety. He was not even allowed to get down from his car to address the people, it was alleged.
Any doubt as to the authenticity of the story was perished by the back glass shield of his official car which was broken, and its photograph displayed as proof.
The questions were: How could anybody have the courage to break the back-shield of a Governor’s official car? Where were the many security personnel usually on a Governor’s convoy?
The area the Governor visited could be described as volatile for three reasons. It is an oil producing area where restless youths abound. It is the Senatorial zone of the immediate past Deputy Governor of the state. And, Senator Rochas Okorocha, a former Governor of the state, whose dream of installing his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as his successor, also, has staunch support in the area. So, the question: Why were security personnel not more observant, and better prepared than they were?
Yet, there are facts and fiction in the story which made the rounds.
Facts:
*The Governor went to Ohaji.
*Some Youths protested.
*The back wind- shield of the governor’s car was broken.
* The youth who threw the stone at the governor’s car was immediately arrested.
Fiction:
*The Governor was in the car during the attack
*The Governor did not come down to address the people.
* The people were booing at the governor.
Speculations were rife as to who sent the Youths, and why?
This magazine gathered that security agencies have since cracked the case, and know exactly how it was planned, as the arrest of the young man has since provided useful evidence.
*The Complete Story*:
The Community, Mmahu, visited by the Governor is an oil producing area, and harbours an oil company. A couple of days to the incident, an accident which involved a truck belonging to the oil company had killed three members of the Community. And put the youths in a foul mood. They began to protest, threatening to raze down the company. Tempers were high. And the governor had to intervene.
He put phone calls to some traditional rulers in the area, and more important, also, asked a prominent son of the area to help calm things down and, told him he would visit and address the people. As investigations, this magazine was told, now reveal, using the prominent son from the area was a big mistake. Yes, he helped organise the meeting, but he, allegedly, also, organised the youths to stage the protest which eventually, almost, got out of hand, and led to the stoning of the governor’s car.
It was a Sunday, according to the Governor’s Spokesperson, Oguwuike Nwachukwu, and tbe Governor, after a Church service, “had gone to the Mmahu area of Ohaji/Egbema to sympathise with the community that lost three of their kinsmen, on Friday, following an accident that involved a truck belonging to an oil firm operating in the area.
“The killing enraged the youths in Mmahu, causing their leaders to reach out to the governor to visit the community to call the oil firm to order.
“Straight from church, Governor Uzodinma, in the company of the Brigade Commander at Obinze, the Commissioner of Police, the Director of State Security Services and Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps visited the area to reassure the community of his willingness to secure their lives and property and to draw a programme for the families of the deceased.
“Governor Uzodinma who was sober condoled with the families who lost their loved ones, as he addressed the leaders of the community at the Eze’s Palace.
“While the Governor was addressing the families, some boys among the aggrieved youths were heard making noise outside, accusing the security operatives of supporting the Oil companies and demanding that Governor Uzodinma should address them too.
“While the security operatives tried to calm them down and control the noise, one of them hid behind others and threw a stone at one of the official vehicles of the Governor where they were parked, and in the process smashed the back glass.
“He was promptly arrested by the security present. While this drama was playing out, Governor Uzodinma was still inside the hall addressing the traditional ruler, community leaders and the bereaved families.”
The arrested, alleged, culprit is Mr Uzochukwu Chukuwukere, the Vice Chairman of Egbema Youth wing. He is said to have thrown the stone that damaged the windscreen of one of the vehicles.
According to reliable sources, Chukuwuekere, on arrest, has made some useful statement to the security operatives.
The sources disclose that an investigation carried out on his phone reveal conversations between him, and the governor’s alleged go-between. “The contents are indicting of the go-between”, a source disclosed
Addressing the leaders and families of the dead, Governor Uzodinma promised to deal with the situation that led to the killings.
His words: “I will not be party to anything that will be against my people, I will enjoin all of you to remain calm as government will take all necessary steps to ensure that such thing doesn’t happen again.
“You must help me to help you, if you try to take laws into your hands for self-help, then I will not be with you. I can only be with you if you challenge me to solve the problem, in which case, you must follow my rules and I will assure you of results.”
The governor expressed worries over the hazardous method used by the oil company in trucking crude instead of the conventional method of laying pipes and promised that he would tackle the issue head on with the company to forestall future re-occurrence.
He noted: “There is nowhere in the world that they truck crude oil, oil exploration is given to capable companies because of the belief that they have the facilities, technical strength and financial muscle to do community-friendly operations. That is it is given to professionals. We have seen that this is not the case here with this company. No government, neither the federal government, nor ministry of petroleum will send anybody to come and truck crude oil and use the vehicle to start killing indigenes of the place.”
While assuring the people that under his watch the problems of Ohaji/Egbema will be solved, Governor Uzodinma reiterated that he will ensure that money meant for the development of the area will be put to good use.
He stated that the era of sharing money to thugs are over. “If you kill 200 people, hoping that I will pay you money to stop, I will not; rather I will pursue you till I bring you down, I will never succumb to such threats,” he warned.
Advising the leaders of the area, the governor cautioned them against using the youths of the area as thugs and turning them into drug addicts.
He warned that his government will deal decisively with anyone caught doing that no matter how highly placed. “We cannot continue like this, if we cannot get peace, we force peace from the people as a government, the governor said.
Earlier, the traditional ruler of the Mmahu,Eze A.I. Iwuogu explained that his community has lost so many lives through accident from the trucks used by Sterling Global, an oil company operating in the area to lift crude to Ndoni.
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