Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, has been tasked to provide effective leadership in the state and stamp out the incessant attacks and killings of Imo citizens by armed Fulani terrorists masquerading as herders.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) made the call following the brutal killing on Sunday of an Imo State citizen who had just returned from the United States and was on his way to inspect his landed assets in Umuguma, Owerri, the state capital. The wife of the deceased was also abducted.

Condemning the killing as an intolerable crime, HURIWA, through its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, lamented that armed herders have carried out over 36 violent operations in Imo State, even as no single arrest or prosecution has been transparently recorded.

He said, “The Imo State governor seemed massively distracted by the politics of opportunism and securing procured endorsements for second term ambition of the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, so much so that the governor really spends little time in Imo state to pay attention to the issues of a lack of effective and efficient government-led response to the heightened state of insecurity in Imo state made problematic by the sudden invasion of several farmlands by armed Fulani terrorists in Imo State.”

He added, “The constitutional duty of the state governor is to implement foolproof proactive security measures and activate security mechanisms to secure lives and property of the good people of Imo State.”

He warned, “In the event that the Imo State governor prefers playing politics of 2027 second term ambition of President Tinubu, he can as well resign immediately so Imo State citizens can elect a capable, competent and caring governor who would see to the adequate protection of lives and property of the good people of Imo state who are currently under intensive terrorists attacks masterminded by Fulani terrorists who pretend to be herdsmen.”