October 17, (THEWILL) – The Ebonyi state Police Command has debunked reports of the alleged abduction of Linus Okorie, the Senatorial Candidate for Ebonyi South District in the 2023 elections.
Okorie, a two-term member of the House of Representatives, who represented Ohanivo Federal Constituency, was reportedly Abducted by gunmen on Sunday.
His wife, Lilian, had in a short video on Facebook on Sunday, pleaded with the abductors of her husband to release him unharmed.
Dr David Ogbonna, the spokesman of the Okorie campaign outfit, confirmed that he had been severely tortured to a near-death situation, made naked and pictures of him taken by his abductors.
But the Ebonyi State Police Command in a statement issued on Monday, by its Spokesperson, SP Chris Anyanwu, said following the rumour of Okorie’s arrest, the Command swung into action and later traced him to the head office of the Ebubeagu Security Outfit at the Old Government House, Abakaliki.
SP Anyanwu, who accused Okorie of evading several Police arrests/invitations, said he was arrested by Ebubeagu Security outfit on offences including “his activities and utterances that incited and provoked the violence that engulfed Onicha LGA, which led to suspected IPOB/ESN operatives or unknown gunmen to unleash mayhem in the area, leaving seven (7) persons dead at the end of that fracas.”
According to Anyanwu, the case has now been taken over by the Police Command for preliminary investigation.
The statement further explained that “Hon Linus Abaa Okorie was severally invited by the Security and Intelligence Bureau of the Command over a petition dated 23/3/2022, authored by The State’s Attorney General/Commissioner for Justice, alleging that he was spreading fake news against His Excellency, Engr Dave Umahi accusing the Governor of illegally withdrawing N6.7 billion from State Government’s Account to fund the Appeal Court Judgment against his removal from office, etc.
“Similar to the above is another series of false allegations against the Government of Ebonyi State and the Police Command in his social media handles.
“When invited by the SIB over the false allegations/petition,
Honourable Linus Abaa Okorie in his characteristic pompous manner refused vehemently to report to the SIB for a chat. Rather he chose to file fallacious suits against the Police Command.
“It is also pertinent to mention that Honourable Linus Abaa Okorie also has a pending case in which he is implicated in a drug-related offence where the suspects purported to be his agents were arrested for Hard drug sales and use at his City Hub Inn, Mile 50, Abakaliki. The case was later transferred to the NDLEA for further necessary actions.
“The Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State Command, CP Aliyu Garba psc(+), therefore, makes it categorically clear that Honourable Linus Abaa Okorie was neither abducted nor kidnapped and warns that people should desist from painting pictures of insecurity in the State by propagating unfounded rumours.
“Ebubeagu is a lawfully established local security outfit by the House of Assembly and Government of Ebonyi State. If the outfit as empowered by the State Law, arrests anybody, it shouldn’t be interpreted as abduction or kidnapping because those terms mean different things.
“However, it is expected that the outfit after effecting such an arrest, should hand over the matter to the Police for further investigation and other necessary actions which have played out in this instance.”
The statement further warned Dr David Ogbonna of Hon Linus Okorie Caring Heart Foundation who issued a statement on the alleged abduction of Okorie, to “henceforth know the implication of the wrong choice of words when next dishing out information for public consumption otherwise he will face the dire consequences as enshrined in the laws of the land.
“The CP further reassures the good people of Ebonyi State that there is no cause for alarm and advises that everyone should go about their lawful businesses without any fear of molestation.”
