Emerging reports suggest that tension is brewing in the 644 autonomous communities in Imo state, following the planned implementation of the N3,000 Development Levy slammed on every taxable adult. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Whatsapp Imo state governor Rochas Okorocha has levied every taxable adult in the state, N3000. Governor Rochas Okorocha has handed over what a traditional ruler called “Taxpayers Ledger,” to all the recognized royal fathers in the state. Ekweremadu Vanguard reports that apart from from being used as tax collectors, “the state government would use the performance of the traditional rulers, in the assigned duty, to grade them”. Strong feelers emanating from the communities yesterday, indicated that “most of the royal fathers are now under serious threat from their subjects.” In his reaction, Chief Blessing Osuagwu, an indigene of Umunachi Obowo, not only condemned the imposition of the latest tax by government, but also said its “a direct way of pitching the traditional rulers against their subjects.” His words: “There is tension in the land occasioned by the biting economic recession. People find it difficult to feed or meet their daily domestic demands. The poverty is so pervasive that no one is capable of giving helping hand to one’s relatives.” In a similar vein, the Imo state government (ISG) yesterday, affirmed that it deliberately abandoned the mountain of smelly refuse along the ever busy Douglas Road, Owerri, to get back at the indigenes who have been fighting the administration. Governor Rochas Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Mr Samuel Onwuemeodo, made the disclosure during an early morning public accountability phone-in programme anchored by Hot 99.5 FM, Owerri. “Government deliberately abandoned the refuse along Douglas Road, Owerri, to get back at Owerri people who have been battling the state government, over the relocation of the market”, Onwuemeodo said. The Governor’s CPS, who poured invectives on the leadership and indigenes of Owerri municipality, also fumed that “Owerri people must be made to understand that they cannot eat their cake and have it.” He further explained that “there is a court order restraining government from tampering with the market and this also explains why we left the refuse.”
