Barely few weeks he was allegedly assaulted by some officials of the Imo State government, the Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, AJV Obinna has raised a fresh alarm over what he considered a threat to his life.
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The Archbishop had penultimate week at a commendation service at Mgwoma Community in Owerri North LGA of Imo State had a brush with officials of Ugwumba movement, a political organization oiling the governorship ambition of Chief of Staff and Governor Rochas Okorocha son in law, Uche Nwosu.
At the Church service at Ngwoma, the Archbishop had said Governor Rochas Okorocha has no right to choose who would take over from him, urging the people to go and get their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs). He said the State need a mature person to run the affairs of the State.
The Imo State government denied the allegations of inflicting any attack on the Catholic Archbishop stating that the incident at Ngwoma was exaggerated by the opposition which used the social media as a tool to blow the incident out of context.
But the Archbishop in publication by the LEADER newspaper, the official catholic tabloid of the Catholic church in Imo State on Sunday, March 18, 2018 said the church would not hide its head like the ostrich in the face of bad governance going on in the State.
The newspaper referred to a press conference in Abuja recently held by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Electoral Matters, Barr Steve Asimobi wherein he said “ We will not handle him (AJV) with kid gloves”
According to the newspaper, based on the statement, the church has resolved not to bury its head in ostrich.
It stated “The catholic Archdiocese of Owerri has vowed to hold Governor Rochas Okorocha responsible, if anything happens to His Grace Archbishop Anthony Obinna, or any of those working with him
“This follows an inciting press conference held last week, in Abuja, at Imo State Liaison Office, where two representatives of Governor Rochas Okorocha declared war on the Archbishop and the Catholic Church.
“The press conference was published on Monday, March 12, 2018, by the Daily Sun Newspaper, with banner headline ‘Okorocha draws battle line with Catholic Priests’.
“Speaking at the Press Conference, Liaison Officer Dr Edward Ihejirika and the Governor’s Special Adviser on Electoral Matters, Bar Steve Asimobi, accused the Archbishop of blackmail and Intimidation, saying that the Okorocha government would not handle him, the Archbishop, with ‘kid gloves’ as was done by the Ohakim government”.
The newspaper further quoted the appointees of the Governor as saying that ‘Archbishop Obinna succeeded in his blackmail then because Ohakim’s government handled the issue with kid gloves. But that would not be the case this time. We will not tolerate any intimidation or blackmail coming from anybody or anywhere even from the spiritual realms’