Imo govt petitions Presidency, NSA, others over soldiers’ invasion

Imo State government has petitioned the Presidency, Army headquarters, National Security Adviser, NSA, and human rights groups
over deployment of soldiers to Government House, Owerri.
The government, in a statement by Senior Special Assistant to Governor Rochas Okorocha on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, alleged that the soldiers were deployed on the order of a minister.
The statement read: “Government decided to petition these quarters knowing that soldiers would not come with armoured vehicles to Government House, Owerri, without somebody ordering them to do so and without the person having reason for doing so.
“The government’s worry becomes more pronounced when it is recalled that there was no problem of any kind in any part of the state on or before that day.
“There was no riot, crisis or clash. Then why did the army come? These are questions we would like the authorities we have petitioned to unveil.
“The army is a sacred institution that could only be called out when a situation in a given place has overwhelmed other security agencies like the police, Department State Services, DSS; the Civil Defence and so on.
“There was no ugly situation in any part of the state last Tuesday, not to talk about any situation the police, DSS, et al, could not handle.
“We are calling for investigation because the government had been told that some people from a neighbouring state were hired by a junior minister to come and set Government House ablaze and the soldiers were brought in to give protection to the hired elements, with the soldiers ignorant of why they were deployed there.”