By Chinonso Alozie, Owerri

The Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, has appealed to the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to reconsider their decision on the ongoing 6-day strike of a public power outage that has thrown Imo into darkness.

Uzodimma made this appeal through his Chief Press Secretary, Oguwike Nwachuku, in a statement to newsmen in Owerri, on Tuesday.

He said the strike has brought additional hardship to the people of the state, who are facing the challenges of a cash crunch, and a hike in fuel prices, among others.

The governor, however, said: “Even though the strike is only effective in the power sector in the State, this administration since assumption of office has maintained and is still maintaining a good working relationship with the Labour Union and workers in the State.

“The government is not owing any verified worker or pensioner in Imo State till date as peddled in some quarters and appealed to those behind the strike to reconsider their position in the best interest of the State and the poor masses.

“Governor Uzodimma assured all and sundry, including the NLC, that he will continue to maintain a good working relationship with workers in Imo State, including consulting widely to ensure that the current situation is brought under control.

“Governor Uzodimma who appealed to Imo citizens to be calm said it is difficult to believe that Comrade Ajaero who should have used his position for the Imo people, being one of us, initiated the strike. Joe Ajaero’s position should be for the good of Imo people, not the other way round,” he said and promised to wade into the circumstances of the strict resolve the issues.”

“On the likelihood of the strike having political colouration, the Imo State Governor said though it is not unlikely because of the desperation of some politicians, investigations would establish all that and urged Imo citizens, particularly the All Progressives Congress members, to come out en masse on Saturday to vote for the candidates of the Party,” Uzodimma said.