Uche Nwosu, a 2019 governorship contender in Imo State, alleged on Tuesday that the state governor, Hope Uzodinma, sanctioned his detention on Sunday at St Peter’s Anglican church Eziama Obaire in the Nkwerre Local Government Area of the state.
In an interview with media in Owerri on Tuesday, Nwosu, the son-in-law of the state’s former governor, Rochas Okorocha, alleged that the goal was to assassinate him.
The politician, who detailed how he was arrested in church, taken to Enugu airport, and boarded a chartered flight to Abuja, claimed that the governor arrested, humiliated, and possibly imprisoned him using his Chief Security Officer and other security operatives attached to the state government house.
On the orders of the state governor, Nwosu claimed he was stripped half-naked and handcuffed.
He claimed that he had no involvement in the state’s insecurity, claiming that the young man who accused him of giving him money to inflame insecurity in the state in a viral video was asked to implicate him.
Uzodinma should avoid resentment and focus on government rather than politics, according to Nwosu.
Those who arrested him, he claimed, stormed the church, leapt to the altar, stopped the service, and shot indiscriminately inside.
Nwosu, in an emotional-laden voice, said those who “abducted me were masked, hijacked me in church and manhandled me; they ordered me to lie on the floor in the vehicle and one of them rested one of his legs on my head.”
Nwosu added, “When they drove off, they started making calls in Hausa, and unknown to them I understand Hausa. They were telling one Shaba, who is the Chief Security Officer that they have got me. At Umuaka, they stopped and ordered that I should get down. At that point, I thought they were to assassinate me. They bundled me into another vehicle and they drove off.
“When we got to Owerri, three other vehicles drove straight to the government house and the one carrying me drove towards Okigwe Road, and I asked them where they were taking me to but they never responded to me. They drove towards Okigwe and stopped. At this point, I thought they wanted to assassinate me. They asked me to remove my cloth, handcuffed me, snapped me, made a video, and sent it to the governor’s CSO.
“We continued until we go to Enugu airport. We waited for about 90 minutes before a chartered flight arrived. We boarded and we landed in Abuja. We moved to force headquarters and we did interviews. They accused me of sponsoring insecurity in Imo State. I want to thank the IGP who intervened and ordered my release.”
Declan Emelumba, the state commissioner for information and strategy, responded by saying that neither the governor nor the state government were involved in Nwosu’s detention.
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