Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, has asked those behind the insecurity in the state to have a rethink or be ready to face the wrath of God.
The governor said neither he nor his government was instrumental to the killings in the state, reiterating that as a governor he needed peace to serve the people well.
Speaking on Saturday during the dedication of a church he singlehandedly built and furnished in his hometown, St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Ozuh Omuma, Uzodimma described the insinuation that he was responsible for the insecurity in the state as evil, devilish and an attempt to smear his image and blackmail his government.
He said he had benefitted from God’s grace and so owed God a debt of gratitude, noting that it was unthinkable for anyone to link him or his government to the cause of crisis and violence in a state God made him governor.
He said despite all the accusations against his person and his administration, God had proven to be with him “because power belongs to God”.
Uzodimma further emphasised that his ambition was not worth the blood of any human being.
He he was inspired to build the church for his community by the commitment of his late mother, Ezinne Rose Uzodimma, to church work, charity and the things of God.
He explained that the project was conceived some 16 years ago and modelled after the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja, and that he was encouraged by the late Catholic Bishop of Orlu, Gregory Ochiagha, and the current Bishop, Most Rev. Dr. Augustine Ukwuoma.
In his homily during the mass, Bishop Ukwuoma, who dedicated the church building, prayed God to use the dedication to enthrone peace and stop the bloodletting in Imo State in particular and Nigeria in general.
He congratulated Governor Uzodimma on the uncommon feat of building and donating a “magnificent worship place of God to the Catholic Church”.
“With the dedication of the church it has now become the property of the Diocese and the universal Church,” Ukwuoma said.
He appealed to leaders to lead the people well “because there is a lot of hardship in the country”.
He also appealed to the leaders to do everything within their powers to prevent the looming strike by NLC and TUC, saying “the strike will not benefit the poor, rather it will create more problems and difficulties”.
The church dedication was graced by five Catholic Bishops, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, other Senators of Imo State extraction, Imo State Deputy Governor Placid Njoku, members of the State Expanded Executive Council, traditional rulers, and men and women from all walks of life.
