NAN – Imo Governor, Mr Rochas Okorocha, on Thursday shelved the Imo carnival slated to begin on May 9 to show sympathy for the kidnapped Chibok girls.
Okorocha said that the decision to shelve the festival was taken at an emergency meeting of the expanded state executive council held at Government House, Owerri.
He said that the decision was based on the unknown fate of the female students abducted in Chibok, Borno State.
He said that in the place of the carnival, his wife, Mrs Nkechi Okorocha, would lead school girls and mothers on a road march in solidarity and support for the release of the girls.
“After exhaustively reviewing the mood of the nation and the world at large, and with regard to the abduction of the innocent girls, the Imo government has decided to postpone the carnival.
“That as a sensitive, responsible, conscious and people-oriented government, and in view of the painful mood of the nation and the rest of the world, the planned carnival slated to begin on Friday, May 9, has been postponed indefinitely.
“Instead of the Carnival programmed for that Friday, the council decided that the wife of the governor, Mrs Nkechi Okorocha, will lead a road march that will involve female students and mothers, who are teachers in the state school system,” he said.
Okorocha called on Nigerians, irrespective of religious or political differences to come together in words and in actions for the release of the innocent children.
He reminded Nigerians that this was not the time to apportion blames on the abducted female students.
He regretted the inconveniences the postponement of the carnival would cause the expected guests across the globe.
The governor appealed to the guests to bear with his government since they must be feeling the way people and the government of Imo felt for the children.
He said that the state government would review the situation as soon as the students were found.
Okorocha expressed confidence that God would ensure the freedom of the students from their abductors without further delay.
