The Imo State Government has confirmed that the mountain of refuse along Douglas Road, Owerri was deliberately abandoned.
This was done to get back at the indigenes who have been fighting the current administration under Governor Rochas Okorocha.
The Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Mr. Samuel Onwuemeodo, said this during an early morning public accountability phone-in programme anchored by Hot 99.5 FM, Owerri.
“Government deliberately abandoned the refuse along Douglas Road, Owerri, to get back at Owerri people who have been battling the state government, over the relocation of the market”, Onwuemeodo said. Adding that “Owerri people must be made to understand that they cannot eat their cake and have it.”
He further explained that “there is a court order restraining government from tampering with the market and this also explains why we left the refuse.”
Some citizens called into the programme and described the abandonment of the huge refuse as “a damnable plot to inflict hardship and disease on the people and not to respect a court order.”
One caller who identified himself as Amanze, wondered why and how a government should deliberately inflict pain and disease on its people, in a democracy. “From what the Governor’s Press Secretary has said, it is now very clear that the palpable hatred which Owerri people have been complaining about is real,” Amanze said.
While recalling that Owerri used to be the cleanest city in Nigeria, Amanze added that “the Governor must hate Owerri so much to allow this level of devastation and dirt in the city.”
On the first of October, a priest of the Anglican Diocese of Owerri, Rev. Canon Uche Chinamerem, posed in front of the heap of refuse dump to celebrate the country’s independence.
