Suspended local government officials from the 27 council areas of Imo State on Monday vowed to defend the mandate given to Senator Hope Uzodinma as the state governor.
The council officials, who converged on Owerri, the state capital today led other pro-Uzodinma supporters to hold a one million man march in support of Governor Uzodinma’s mandate.
Marching from the state Secretariat of the APC in Owerri, the demonstrators, who marched under the auspices of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), bore placards with several inscriptions, shut down the streets of Owerri, as they sang solidarity songs for Governor Uzodinma.
Addressing journalists in front of the Government House, the state chairman of ALGON, Chief Emeka Osuoji, said the march became necessary considering the distractive protests by “a faction of PDP in Imo State and mainly hiring non-indigenes just to breach the public peace” over the declaration of Senator Uzodinma as the duly elected governor of the state by the Supreme Court.
He also accused the anti-Uzodinma protesters of attempting to bring the integrity of the judiciary and the Apex Court into public disrepute and ridicule.
“We’re using this march to inform the world that the great people of Imo state and ALGON in particular are in total support of Governor Uzodinma.
“We therefore commend the Supreme Court for its landmark judgement of January 14, 2020 which validated the wishes of Imo people by declaring Senator Hope Uzodinma as the governor of Imo State.
“We can authoritatively confirm to you that Senator Hope Uzodinma, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) overwhelmingly won the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Imo State.
“It is our sincere hope that the Supreme Court will not be cajoled into reversing its judgement on Imo State governorship,” Chief Osuoji said.
Daily Trust reports that the Supreme Court had on January 14, 2020 declared Senator Hope Uzodimma as the governor of Imo State.
The seven-member panel of justices had held that Emeka Ihedioha was not duly elected Governor.
