The Imo state government has accused a former governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha, of being the mastermind of the recent attacks on some federal facilities in Owerri, the state capital.
Armed men had in the early hours of Monday attacked a correctional facility in Owerri, the Imo State capital, freeing some inmates.
They also proceeded to the State Police Headquarters where they burnt the building and destroyed all vehicles within the vicinity.
In a statement signed by Declan Emelumba, Commissioner for Information, the government claimed Okorocha engaged thugs whom he had granted amnesty to unleash violence on the state.
Emelumba said the aim was to force the Nigerian government to declare a state of emergency in Imo.
He said his government was also in possession of information on how a Special Adviser to the former governor procured the thugs that invaded Owerri that Monday morning.
According to him, the fact that Okorocha sponsored some Northern youths who called for the declaration of a state of emergency in Imo state, barely hours after the attacks, made him a culprit.
He alleged that the former governor wants to get back at Governor Hope Uzodinma for insisting on the implementation of the White Paper that indicted him for looting the state and grabbing people’s lands.
“Recall that the man had gone to court to stop the commission from sitting. When that failed, he approached Governor Uzodinma to disband the panels.
“When that failed, he resorted to violence to repossess property government had sealed. That is the motive for the attacks,” the commissioner said.
Displaying a purported copy of a press statement by the Northern youths where they castigated Uzodinma but praised Okorocha, Emelumba said it was not rocket science for people to know the person behind the attacks.
He added that it was not a coincidence that the former governor had not condemned the attacks.