Governor Hope Uzodimma has said that he does not operate a security vote in Imo State.
He spoke on the matter on Thursday after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to seek an appointment for the Southeast leaders and Ohanaeze Ndigbo over the insecurity in the region.
Uzodimma, however, requested that state governors should be given more latitude to tackle security challenges at subnational levels with the federal structure.
He also said governors were not at liberty to choose or reject security measures decided by the federal government because of the federal structure of the country.
When asked to justify his security vote if the state could not handle the matter, he said: “Security vote, I am not against it, but I don’t operate it in Imo State. Again, you should find out from my parliament, I don’t operate it in Imo State but I still think that governors should be given a headroom, governors should be allowed a window to have funds they can use to manage security issues.
“As I speak to you, we are not addressing the problem of insecurity in Imo State through kinetic means alone, we have adopted both kinetic and non-kinetic approach. We also procure intelligence that will help security agencies function effectively and efficiently. So, all these are intangible aspects of security control measures. It is then important that governors who have been elected, sworn-in to manage the resources and the mandate of the people be given latitude to operate so that they’ll be able to provide results.”
On the motive behind his visit to the villa, he said the people of the Southeast like other regions, deserved federal government support to enable them live their daily lives and go about their businesses.
He, however, did not give details of what the Southeast leaders would want from Tinubu when the meeting holds.
Uzodimma said non-state actors had employed fear and indiscriminate killings and brigandage to enforce an illegal sit-at-home on some days in the region.
According to him, the problem has also become an issue of “perception management”.
He added that international diplomacy, which is also part of the solution, is beyond the purview of state governors.
Asked about the claim by former Nigeria Delta militant, Asari Dokubo, that his men were helping the federal government tackle insecurity in the Southeast, Uzodimma replied that he was not aware of such and could not identify who were ‘Dokubo’s men’.
The governor, who spoke on the flooding ravaging the Southeast, said a recent hydrographic survey indicated that the huge cost of remedying the situation might be beyond the capabilities of state governments.
