The Imo State Government on Monday refuted rumors that the Federal Government had established an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in the Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of the state.
The Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation, and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, clarified in Owerri that the facility under construction in Nsu is intended as a training center for skills acquisition programs specifically for people in the South East, not for individuals from other parts of Nigeria.
Emelumba regretted that “enemies of Nigeria decided to distort harmless information from the National Refugees Commission to pit Igbos against other parts of the country.”
“The purveyor of the disinformation is a notorious propagandist who has repeatedly disseminated seditious materials from his infamous ‘hate speech gospel ministry’ to incite unrest in the nation.”
He said the latest mischief was intended to incite Ndigbo against Northerners as a means of making the country ungovernable for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“This is a man who is notorious for churning out hate speeches, founded on stark ignorance of public politics and current affairs, against Northerners. He deliberately twisted the news from the Refugees Commission to incite Ndigbo against other Nigerians.”
The commissioner wondered why the security agencies had not arrested the propagandist, who in a widely circulated video called on Ndi Imo to rise against other Nigerians.
Emelumba said, “The training centre at Ehime Mbano was the South East’s slot, as other geo-political zones received their slots and would train their people accordingly.”
“At no time was it contemplated that refugees would be brought from either the North or the West to be trained in Imo State.”
He urged the people of Ehime Mbano, Okigwe Zone, and Imo State to ignore the fake news, as it is the handiwork of enemies of the Government.
