The Imo State Government has alleged that one of its critics has reached out to Governor Hope Uzodinma to strike a deal.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, said the critic has promised to cease fire if an undisclosed sum of money was paid to him.
Emelumba made the revelation in a statement yesterday.
According to him, the individual, who reached out to the friends of the governor, has proven that he is an extortionist and blackmailer.
Emelumba noted that the demand from the critic has vindicated the government’s earlier position that he was neither fighting for the public nor is he motivated by morality.
He said, “When we described him as an extortionist and blackmailer, the public thought we were too hard on him, but now it is clear that frustration and hunger are his sole motivation for his unwarranted and unsubstantiated allegations against the governor.
“We can confirm that he has reached out to several people, including some government officials asking them to convince the governor to release some money to him to stop the baseless attacks on Uzodimma.
“One of such persons he reached is a Lagos-based businessman, whom he spoke on the phone with, on Wednesday, and later sent his Opay account number for his ticket to Lagos to seal the deal. We have records of similar conversations.”
The commissioner described as unfortunate the activities of the critic, who was offered an opportunity to serve as a commissioner but failed woefully on the job.
He said the most painful aspect of the whole saga was that the critic’s case files in the police where he was indicted for stealing government property were still open.
On whether the government was considering buying the silence of the critic as he is demanding, Emelumba said he should perish the thought as Governor Uzodimma has nothing to hide.