By Uche Amunike
The Imo State government has debunked the rumours making the rounds that Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, suffered a stroke and eventually lost his life shortly after he was rushed to an Indian hospital, describing it as a wicked and unfounded fabrication that made no sense.
According to a recorded audio message that went viral on social media, the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma was rushed to India for treatment, but eventually ended up not making it.
The State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, has however said, in a statement released to pressmen, Wednesday, in Owerri that the Governor is not only hale and hearty, but has also been energetically attending to all his scheduled activities in preparation of the forthcoming All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
He stated that the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma did not have any health issues that would have led to him having a stroke.
Hear him: ‘His Excellency attended a meeting with the President alongside other APC governors this morning. As I speak, he has entered another party meeting with other stakeholders ahead of APC’s convention.’
‘So I don’t really know what those concocting this rumour want to achieve,” Emelumba said.
He added that the purported rumour about the governor’s imagined ailment was clearly peddled by enemies of the State.
The statement partly read: ‘Imo State Government has dismissed as unfounded, wicked and mindless fabrication, a recorded vioce message making the rounds in the social media claiming that GOVERNOR HOPE UZODIMMA is down with stroke and has been rushed to India. The satanic message even claimed that he could not make it to India’.
He described the rumour peddlers as descendants of Lucifer who are vainly wishing the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, evil.
He reiterated thus: ‘His Excellency attended a meeting with the President alongside other APC governors this morning. As I speak, he has entered another party meeting with other stakeholders ahead of APC’s convention. So I don’t really know what those concocting this rumour want to achieve’.
The Commissioner warned the purveyors of the rumours to desist forthwith before they suffer unmitigated disaster.
According to him, ‘it was clear that those who do not wish the governor well have been fantasizing about a phantom illness, saying however that they will continue to be disappointed as Uzodimma is enjoying robust health and attending to state duties.’
He enjoined the people of imo State and Nigerians in general to ignore the false rumours fabricated by what he described as ‘mentally deranged elements seeking attention over nothing’.
He assured that the matter has been transferred to the relevant security agencies to investigate the people behind what he described as ‘the satanic audio recording’.
The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma took over the reins of power in Imo State after the Supreme Court declared him winner of the 2019 governorship poll in the state, nullifying the election of incumbent Emeka Ihedioha. He is the 7th governor of Imo state.
