Sunday’s aborted bomb blast at the Living Faith Christian Church, aka, Winners’ Chapel Owerri, Imo State is witnessing another drama as the matter has turned political with leading political parties engaging in verbal attacks over who should be held responsible for the action.
Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has asked the police to look beyond Boko Haram members and beam their searchlights on Imo PDP with a view to determining the actual perpetrators of the act.
It would be recalled that in a widely circulated press release, the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Barr Enyinnaya Onuegbu said that the party has been vindicated over the Winners’ Church bomb scare having raised alarm of unwholesome acts of the state government concerning security matters.
In an apparent response to the PDP, the governor in a statement made available to Trumpeta endorsed by his Media Aide, Sam Onwuemedo noted that PDP members are suspects based on the party’s comment on the aborted incident.
According to Okorocha “the party with its claims, has justified the fears of the state government that some desperate politicians for 2015 in the state, most of them in the PDP, might hide under the phenomenon, called Boko Haram to cause havoc in the state. And we humbly wish to call on the police to leverage on the Imo PDP claims and look beyond the Boko Haram angle in investigating the bombs found in the Winners’ Chapel Owerri last Sunday”
“To tell you how God works, the same day the PDP in Imo State was labouring in vain to accuse Governor Okorocha of being the cause of the Winners Chapel Bomb incident in Owerri, more than 560 suspected Boko Haram elements were arrested in Aba, in Abia State governed by the PDP.
“Several Government locations or establishments had, before now, been bombed in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory where the PDP superintends and do we now say, President Goodluck Jonathan was responsible? The answer is no. To say the least, frustration is not a good English word and Imo PDP has the word as a qualifying adjective”.
While accusing PDP of desperation in its bid to come back to power in the state through any means, the government statement said “The Party in the State had tried all it could to reduce the esteem of Rochas Okorocha and his government in the State, Imo people refused and have continued to refuse to oblige them. They said Rocha’s roads are inferior, Imo people asked them, for 12 years which one did you give us? No answer. They said, Rochas free education is half-backed, the people asked them, for 12 years which one did you people give us? No answer. So on, and so forth. Now they are also experimenting with the Boko Haram episode to incite the church in the State against Governor Okorocha and his government. Unfortunately, Imo people know better.
The statement further queried
“Why didn’t the Imo PDP accuse Governor Okorocha over the bombing of Chief Ikedi Ohakim’s house? The Imo PDP knew those who bombed Ohakim’s house. It was a clear case of snake swallowing snake”.
While a section of the public has commended the efforts and gallantry of the Imo state Police Command under the self-effacing and sedulous leadership of CP Ali for their professional handling of the bomb incident, others, under the aegis of Igbo leaders of thought, have accused the State Police of shielding ‘Northerners’ who were arrested and suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sectand who attempted to bomb the church this past Sunday
Reacting to the incident, the secretary of the Igbo body, Evangelist Eliot Uko, in a press statement that was widely publicized in most national dailies, accused the State Police Commissioner of refusing to parade the suspects before the media. According to him, ‘the six fighters, said to be northerners by eye witnesses, who confessed they had a mandate to bomb five churches in Owerri, are being shielded, a sharp contrast to the humiliation the Police gave pro-Biafra activists in Enugu penultimate week by parading them unclad to complete their humiliation’
No doubt, the position of the Igbo Leaders’ body is premised on their patriotic zeal and concern for our people who undoubtedly have been on the receiving end of the Boko Haram scourge. However, it is advised that at such perilous times as this, people should rather exercise restraint and caution in their utterances. Instead of getting their dagger up over the strategic refusal of the State Police Command to parade the suspects, the group should have deemed it more appropriate to find out from the CP, who is accessible, why he chose to do so.
It is indeed really sad and discomforting that members of the public are always in a hurry to deprecate the actions of the Police without realizing that as a professional institution with highly trained personnel, the Police must approach situations based on facts and evidence available.
According to the State Police Commissioner, the people arrested by the Police have not been linked to the bomb in any way. As of fact, they appeared to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He revealed that they are citizens of Uganda, Kenya and the United States of America who are employees of one of the communication companies in the State and were coming from a night club around the area. They were apprehended for questioning, and have all been cleared by the Nigerian Immigration Services, their various embassies and employers. Hence, the umbrage and incendiary remarks expressed by the Igbo body over an issue they did not have enough facts is condemnable.
Much as we all find the present Boko Haram insurgency and the inability of the Nigerian state to come to grips with the situation highly frustrating and in fact worrisome, it is advised that our people should rather refrain from making unguarded utterances to avoid fanning the embers of discord through misinformation and unnecessary statements. Such statements, it must be said, have the unintended consequences of fuelling mass hysteria and encouraging bedlam
No doubt, the quick reaction and response of the State Police Command alongside other security agencies in the state, which acted on intelligence reports and averted this disaster, is indicative that the Command is alive to its responsibilities and working assiduously to ensure that Imo State is safe and secure. According to the Police head, investigations are still on-going to unravel the mystery behind the Winners Church bombers. Mr. Ali has therefore appealed to the public to be calm and patient and come forward with any useful information that could aid the Police in their investigation. He also advised everyone to be vigilant and report any suspected movement or objects in their environment to the Police.
The security initiative, ‘Know your Neighbour’, recently launched by the State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, should be embraced by everyone with the seriousness that the present situation deserves, as it is intended to identify those in our midst who may constitute a threat to the prevailing peace and security in the state.
