Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma has explained that none of the state’s residents will be allowed to acquire weapons.
Hope Uzodinma further stated that security agencies should be allowed to perform their duties.
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The governor made his position known to State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in the State House, Abuja, on Tuesday, June 28.
Uzodinma, who was reacting to recent call by Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara that his citizens should apply for guns for self-protection, said there was no need for such actions in Imo.
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Uzodinma added;
The situation in Imo is not the same with that in Zamfara State.
However, on the Governor’s call for individuals to apply for licences, I think the authorities will only give licenses to a qualified and a legible candidate.
But I don’t think there is a need for individuals or unauthorized people to carry arms.
He further revealed that Imo state has been enjoying relative peace in the past couple of months and there would be no need for extreme measures.
The situation in Imo State is currently being managed and we have seen relative peace for the past weeks in Imo and normal businesses have incrementally resumed in Imo State.
I am not in Zamfara State to know the situation there but I don’t think that the security situation in Zamfara State or any other part of the country is beyond our security agencies.
In Imo State, the security agencies have risen to the occasion, they are working in synergy and the situation has been controlled to a barest minimum.
Uzodinma also used the opportunity to condemn recent attacks on Churches and the kidnapping of some clergymen.
Regrettably, of recent, some Catholic Priests became victims of the banditry saga in Nigeria. It is an unfortunate incident and condemnable.
It is not as if other people being killed are not important but we detest any form of violence or taking of lives.
The Church condemns that and Islam is also against that, likewise our local traditions.
He called on security agencies to do everything humanly possible to fish out those behind these ungodly and wicked acts for prosecution accordingly.
