– SENDS THUGS TO CLOSE DOWN COLLEGE OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY, OGBOKO

• SET TO CLOSE DOWN EASTERN PALM UNIVERSITY, OGBOKO

By ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES

The executive governor of Imo State, His Excellency Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha has been accused of sending thugs mostly mobilized from his Aboh-Mbaise and Owerri West axis of the State to disrupt academic activities and close down the newly built Imo State College of Midwifery and Nursing, Ogboko, Ideato South LGA of the State.

The accusation which is coming from some prominent politicians, activists and opinion leaders have warned that the governor is running a clannish government targeted at victimizing the entire people of Orlu zone, especially, those of Ideato North and South for massively rejecting his candidature during the last governorship poll in the State.

The governor who had earlier closed down the newly built Imo State University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Umuagwo in Ohaji-Egbema LGA of the State had written a letter to the rector of the fully functional College of Nursing and Midwifery, Ogboko requesting that the institution be relocated and all facilities, students and staff ‘returned’ to somewhere. This letter which was written by the governor himself through the Secretary to the Imo State Government, Mr. Uche Onyeagucha did not adduce any reason for this relocation nor were modalities and timeline for the relocation stated in the letter.

The letter also threatened that the governor would, through the SSG be paying an unscheduled visit to the institution.

Curiously, hardly had the rector finished reading the letter than a group of thugs, obviously acting true to the threats contained in the letter and empowered by the governor, descended on the institution, harrasing and molesting the mostly female students, destroying properties belonging to the institution and carting away some of the properties to unknown destinations.

Some opinion leaders in the State have however spoken out in condemnation against what they described as ‘State sponsored criminality, thuggery and arson.’ According to Onwuasoanya FCC Jones, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in the State; the action of the governor reeks of the most absurd recklessness, impunity, vendetta and bigotry.

Meantime, the governor is said to have concluded plans to disrupt academic activities in the newly built Eastern Palm University, Ogboko, in the pretense of recovering government properties. Sources close to the Imo State Government House indicate that the governor may demolish the state-of-the-art edifices housing the university, as he may have sworn never to be alive to see Ideato or any part of Orlu compete with Mbaise or any part of Owerri in development.

While Governor Ihedioha has made no pretenses for the advancement of education in the State, it may be important to note that all the academic institutions hit by his anti-education policy are all located in Orlu zone, otherwise known as the Imo West Senatorial District. Could it be that the governor is frightened by the potentials of a massively educated population in Orlu, knowing that Orlu is the political base of the entire State, the most prosperous people in Imo State also hail from Orlu zone. The governor’s decision to disrupt the educational, infrastructural, and economic potentials of Orlu zone is ominous and if not condemned at this point may develop into a major crisis in the State.