‘Imo becoming Banana Republic’ — Okorocha accuses Uzodimma of ordering Uche Nwosu’s arrest

Rochas Okorocha, senator representing Imo west, has accused Hope Uzodimma, governor of the state, of ordering the arrest of Uche Nwosu.

On Sunday, Uche Nwosu, former governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA) and son-in-law of Okorocha, was arrested during a church service in Imo.

Although Nwosu was released from custody hours after he was picked up, the circumstances of who ordered his arrest are still unclear.

Over the past months, Okorocha and his successor, Uzodimma, have been at loggerheads.

While condemning the arrest, Okorocha, senator representing Imo west, had said the arrest of Nwosu was “like a kidnap”.

Speaking further on Tuesday in an interview with Channels Television, Okorocha said his son-in-law’s arrest has “unravelled” the “mystery” behind unknown gunmen in Imo.

“What is happening in Imo state is too serious that Imo state looks like it is becoming a Banana Republic where there is complete lawlessness, where people live in fear and not sure of what happens the next day,” he said.

“No day that passes without somebody being killed and people being harassed and it seems everybody is living in fear and nobody can speak out.

“It appears to most people unfortunately, as if though the happenings in Imo state have some kind of backing from Abuja and that is what I could figure out, and there seems to be enmity between the people here and the presumed federal government just because of communication gap.

“But thank God, this is getting to be now unravelled with the recent happenings, especially with arrest of Ugwumba Uche Nwosu in the church.

“My concern is that there is something that has to be unravelled and I am sure that you must have been hearing of unknown gunmen in Imo state.

“This is where the story of unknown gunmen started and most people have been wondering the mystery behind unknown gunmen. It appears though to me now that unknown gunmen have finally been unravelled with the recent happenings.

“What are the unknown gunmen from what happened to Uche Nwosu? Unknown gunmen now were a set of policemen from government house who — without the consent of the commissioner of police, without the consent of the inspector-general of police, without the DIGs in charge — on their own, from the instruction of government of the Imo state, led by Hope Uzodimma and his CSO, Shaba, that gives directive to go and arrest people at will and lock them up at will. Sometimes, whereabouts of these people are not known.

“Gradually, something is being unravelled and that is the good news about this. And to shock you and to shock the whole world is that this same Shaba and his governor are in the business of getting policemen from government house to go and execute an unholy act and when they run into trouble, they quickly say it is police.”