Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma has deployed security operatives to guard Ama Awusa, a settlement dominated by northerners in Owerri, due to the widespread attacks on some Hausa/Fulani people in the South-East.
Governor Uzodinma deployed the security operatives following the killing of seven traders of northern extraction last week in Orlu town and Umuaka in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo.
Speaking with Daily Trust on Friday, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Uzodinma on Gender and Vulnerable Persons (men), Sulaiman Ibrahim Sulaiman, said that adequate security had been provided to prevent further attacks.
Sulaiman, who is also the Garkwa Hausa (Shield of Hausa communityy), said the people have been sensitized on the need to live in peace with their neighbors.
He said the people are not contemplating carrying out a reprisal, especially on the recent killing of seven traders as they have taken it as an act of God.
“We have taken everything as the will of Allah. To Him, we come and to Him, we shall return. Some of us have been here for decades. Even our grandparents were here over 150 years ago. So we see yourselves as indigenes of the state and so there is no need to fight or create recriminations between us,” he said.
Sulaiman advised those in the North threatening attack on Igbo interests in the North not to play into the hands of politicians who are not happy when there is peace in the country.
KanyiDaily recalls that Governor Hope Uzodinma had accused aggrieved politicians of being behind the recent attacks in Imo State to destabilise the APC government.