Imo governor Hope Uzodinma marked his first year in office with a celebration to open up two roads, but the opposition People’s Democratic Party labelled him as searching for “legitimacy”.
In a virtual ceremony, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated both roads constructed in Owerri within Uzodinma’s first year in office, calling them “symbolic and strategic”.
- School abductions endanger education in North
Bandits Storm Primary School in Kaduna, Abduct Teachers, Pupils
”The first road, The Assumpta to Hospital junction road, is the gateway to the South-South from the South-East,” he said.
”The second road, the World Bank to Federal Secretariat road, is an important access way to the federal government secretariat and a major connecting link road between the residents of the densely populated World Bank area of the state and the rest of the state capital.”
The state aims to execute 46 road projects
”When I assumed office a year ago, almost all the roads in the State were not motorable, and as a result, both inter and intra city movement were nightmarish,” said Uzodinma
”To make matters worse, there was no money to carry out palliative repairs… and I received no handover note from the previous administration and no kobo was handed over to me,” he said.
But the PDP says Uzodinma is using his first year in office to seek legitimacy, calling the first-year celebration an “indiscretions and assault on the psyche of the people of Imo State.”
In a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary, Ogubundu Nwadike, noted that by celebrating an event that took place in January in March, Uzodimma had shown that he clearly had nothing to celebrate, but only to seek relevance since the January 14 Supreme Court judgement that ousted PDP’s Emeka Ihedioha from power.
“It should be noted that Uzodimma celebrated his one year in office in January. Why is he repeating the same non-event in March? The answer is simple. The governor is scratching here and there in a desperate search for legitimacy. His futile search continues.
“But what is Uzodimma really showcasing in one year? Is it the inglorious mark he left by putting Imo in the list of states that did not attract a single direct foreign investment in the last one year? How can the governor claim that “things are indeed looking up in the state” when salaries and pensions are not being paid? A regime that deploys thugs to flog frail and aged citizens who, peacefully protested against unpaid pensions and gratuities cannot claim to have the interest of the people at heart. Today, civil servants are groaning under the excruciating pains occasioned by selective and non-payment of salaries in most cases 11 months arrears.
But in his reaction, Uzodimma, who spoke through his special adviser for print media, Modestus Nwamkpa, described PDP as a sinking party seeking to reinvent itself.
He said that the Supreme Court saved the state from suffering the effects of illegality perpetuated by PDP in the 2019 ekection, adding, “The PDP should bury their head in shame because the party won through the back door and was thrown out through the front door.”
He said, “PDP has nothing to say because they the Supreme Court restored the hope of Imo people by restoring the mandate they gave to Uzodimma in the 2019 election.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
