Follow Us on Google
From Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
Stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State have denied attacking and abducting the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in 2015, Chief Okey Ezea, during the November 4 council poll.
APC Enugu State chapter, through its chairman, Dr Ben Nwoye, had, at a press briefing, alleged that Chief Ezea was brutalised and kidnapped during the election by political thugs working for a PDP chieftain and Commissioner for Transport, Vitus Okechi. Nwoye called on security agencies to arrest and investigate him.
But, stakeholders who addressed newsmen at the PDP state secretariat exonerated Okechi from the allegations, saying it was instead Ezea who attacked the PDP members, including his brother’s wife, Mrs Victoria Ukwueze, who was hospitalised as a result of the injuries she sustained.
The member representing Igbo-Eze South in the state House of Assembly, Erochukwu Ukwueze, who led the stakeholders to address newsmen at the state party secretariat said: “The allegation of torture and kidnapping of Mr. Ezea is likened to the proverbial ‘kettle calling a pot black.’ As PDP stakeholders in Igbo-Eze South local government, our experience in the hands of Ezea is better imagined.
The PDP stakeholders assembled eight people with various degrees of injuries and claimed they were injured by the thugs brought by Chief Ezea. They said there was no way they could have attacked Ezea because they still see him as a PDP member, even though he claimed to be in the APC.
“We, stakeholders, the majority of whom were within the ENSIEC secretariat in Igbo-Eze South on the fateful day vehemently refute this allegation and hence, describe it as another hoax from a pro-propaganda party, APC. Neither Okechi and Ajogwu nor any member of the PDP or her faithful were involved in any attack on Ezea before, during and after the election.
“There was no need for any scuffle with Ezea, especially against the backdrop that, as ‘PDP associate’, he, along with other PDP stakeholders in the area, nominated the current chairman-elect of Igbo-Eze South and the PDP councillorship-elect of his Itchi Uwani Ward 1, respectively.”
The stakeholders disclosed that the November 4, election had “commenced in earnest and peacefully until Mr Okey Ezea invaded the ENSIEC office with four buses loaded with over 50 able-bodied youths/thugs who were chanting war songs.
“They first attacked the bus conveying election materials to Echara-Ishiegu ward, vandalized the vehicle and carted away election materials. Mr Ezea personally beat up and wounded three PDP loyalties. Thereafter, he left for Itchi Uwani Ward I, his ward of origin, where he personally attacked one Mrs Victoria Ukwueze, the ENSIEC Supervising Presiding Officer, SPO, for distributing election material in his absence. Mrs Ukwueze is currently in a hospital in Abuja where she is been treated for various degrees of injuries arising from Chief Ezea’s attack on her.”
They, therefore, said that the bandage on Ezea’s head and other parts of his body in a picture given to newsmen by the APC state chairman was fake.
