Ebonyi State Now ‘Banana Republic’ – PDP

The Ebonyi State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has said Ebonyi State has become a banana republic because of the state government’s use of Ebubeagu Security operatives to hunt down members of the opposition party in the state.

The PDP Chairman, Mr Tochukwu Okorie, stated this in a statement while condemning the alleged abduction of the party’s Publicity Secretary, Mr Chika Nwoba, by members of the Ebubeagu outfit.

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The PDP was reacting to the alleged kidnapping of Nwoba by the security outfit, and was later rescued following a distress call to the Police Anti-Kidnapping Squad.

Okorie then called on the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to take judicial notice of the happenings in the state.

“At about 1300hrs, this afternoon, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Nwoba Chika Nwoba, was abducted by a gang of criminals along Abakaliki-Enugu Road, and was thrown into the trunk of a Sienna bus,” the statement alleged.

According to the PDP, “Nwoba was riding in the company of the party Deputy Chairman, Ifeanyi Nworie, who courageously resisted the kidnappers from taking away the Publicity Secretary in their vehicle. Nworie now put a call across to the O/C, Anti-Kidnapping Unit of Ebonyi police, who promptly sent a rescue team.

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“The abductors were intercepted and Nwoba was subsequently rescued from the abductors by the anti-kidnapping unit of the Ebonyi Police Command. So far, Nwoba has been taken into custody by the police.

“It is unfortunate that rather than arrest the abductors who they met on the ground, they took Nwoba into their custody and allowed the abductors to go.

“We call on the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to take judicial notice of what is happening in Ebonyi State; we call on the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, to take judicial notice of what is happening in Ebonyi State. Also, we call on the Inspector-General of Police to take judicial notice of what is happening in the state. We want to warn that no individual has a monopoly of violence.

“We are being pushed to the wall. The PDP in Ebonyi State is a peace-loving and democratic organisation, but we are being pushed to the point where we will have to resist the evil that is being perpetrated in the state. Ebonyi State that we used to know to be lawful and peaceful, has now become a Banana Republic.”

However, reacting to the statement from the PDP, the security consultant to the state government and APC Chairman-elect, Chief Stanley Okoro-Emegha, noted that Nwoba had been on the list of those to answer for fake news.

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“It is really unfortunate. I don’t like joining issues. The law provides that Ebubeagu can arrest and hand over to the police. They have been doing that on more than two occasions. This boy called Chika Nwoba has been on the list of those to come and answer for fake news,” he said.

“We all know that there’s a law on fake news in the state. Many others are facing similar charges in the state.

“Why would somebody say it is an abduction? Security operatives operate based on intel. And when the information got to them, they said they had seen him. There was an uprising in the location he was. Some said it was an abduction and not abduction.

“While a team of Ebubeagu was on patrol, they saw them. Chika Nwoba was there and he was picked. Knowing that he was a member of an opposition political party, Ebubeagu did their job professionally by arresting him and handing him over to the police. The investigation on the matter continues.

“If there was no petition against him, he wouldn’t have been arrested but there was a petition already against him and that was why he was arrested.

“Ebubeagu handed him over to the police. He was not taken to the Government House or any other place. The people they handed over to was a police team on patrol and not that they (Ebubeagu) took him to the police station. The law will take its due course.”

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