PDP: Uzodimma’s Stance on State Police Exposed His Sympathy for Bandits
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, accused Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, of showing sympathy for terrorists and bandits who have been killing, kidnapping and ravaging the nation by standing against the popular demands for the establishment of state police.
The PDP based its allegation on Uzodimma’s interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, where he justified President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to wake up to the statutory demand of his office and take expected steps to rescue Nigerians from terrorists and bandits.
The party, in a statement that was issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, asserted that Uzodimma’s anti-people stance against efforts to establish state policing system also exposed his insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians in the face of the failure of the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) controlled federal security apparatus to protect the people.
The PDP, however, alleged that Uzodimma, who is in the Imo State’s government house as a beneficiary of criminal manipulation of the electoral and judicial processes by the APC, could not but justifying the failures of his benefactors at the expense of the lives of other Nigerians, including the people of Imo State.
It said: “Nigerians are now seeing the faces of the APC leaders who have sympathy for terrorism and should hold such individuals responsible for the activities of such deviants in our country.
“Governor Uzodimma, as a former legislator, knows that the Second Schedule (Exclusive Legislative List) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) vests the operation of the police, the military and other armed services; the control of arms and ammunitions as well as criminal records among other statutory paraphernalia of national security on the federal government and not the states.”
Against this backdrop, the PDP said that any well-meaning leader ought to be lending his or her voice to the call by Nigerians for President Buhari to wake up to his statutory responsibilities and initiate the required executive instrument to accelerate legislative actions towards the amendment of relevant sections of the constitution to establish a desirable state police system.
Furthermore, the PDP also cautioned Uzodimma against politicising the current security crisis in Imo State, which is occasioned by his mismanagement of the sensibilities of the citizens.