Senator Ifeanyi Araraume has washed his hands off the newly-constituted Imo State Elders Council put together by the Imo State Government.
Araraume announced his decision in a statement issued in Owerri, Imo State Capital by his Media Adviser, Dr James Okoroma.
Senator Araraume who is the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited maintained that it was procedurally wrong for the Imo State Government to have first listed and published his name as a member of the Council without consulting him.
He added that while he was not averse to any genuine effort at peace-making and consensus-building in the State, he would not cave into under-hand tactics meant to blackmail and take advantage of Leaders who are never taken into confidence on the way Imo State is governed.
He further disclosed that as one of the leaders of Imo State and the All Progressives Congress, APC, he was praying for the restoration of peace and security in the State, insisting that God would not abandon Imo people in the current economic and security challenge confronting them.
