Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State says he never paid a dime to Fulani herdsmen for allegedly losing their cows in Ezinihite Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State.
He accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP “for criminally blackmailing him”
News had surfaced on the internet that the Imo State Governor paid N8 million naria to the herdmen.
Uzodinma’s Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser, Marcel Oguwuike, in a statement, blamed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for spreading the fake news.
He said those behind the fake news were desperate to “legitimize their criminal intent and have the buy in of the public”
According to him “This is not the first, nor will it likely be the last, time agents of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will criminally issue a statement purporting same to have emanated from the Office of the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser. They did when former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari died and, in their warped mentality and hallucination, renamed the Imo State University after Kyari.
The statement continued “Their intention then was to deploy misinformation to discredit the government of Governor Uzodimma and cause disharmony between the government and the good people of Imo State. They failed.
“The government of Imo State under the watch of our able Governor of Uzodinma does not know what the PDP sponsored criminals are talking about as regards the purported payment of N8m and meeting”
He disassociated the state government from the allegations and “purported payment, the imaginary meetings between the Governor and MACBAN, and the gibberish associated with the non existent meetings
“While the government is very much committed to a society, where constructive criticism helps to bring development, it will continue to have zero tolerance for people who deploy criminality and subjective criticism with the intention of misinforming and misleading the public.
“It is a shame that the purveyours of fake news on the current Imo State Government have sold their consciences that one wonders if Mac Zukerberg, the founder of Facebook and also owner of Whatsapp, will not be wondering if they are under spell.
“On a day Imo people are reflecting and rejoicing over nearly one billion Naira that has been traced to be in dormant accounts in one bank alone due to the recklessness of the past administrations, a gang of PDP-sponsored social media zealots are busy orchestrating fake news, just to divert attention and cause disharmony. What a shame?
“The government of Governor Uzodimma is irrevocably committed to good governance and will not be distracted, not even by the resort to fake news by the opposition and their agents as a blackmail tool.
“The public in general and Imo people in particular should, therefore, ignore every fake news meant to misinform them about Imo State Government activities, more so, as Governor Uzodimma is not interested in telling anybody lies. The era of deceit is gone.