Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State
Ebonyi Govt declares ex-Reps member, Okorie, wanted
[From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki]
Ebony Government has declared a former member of the House of Representatives, Linus Okorie, wanted.
This is however, as Okorie, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who represented Ọhaọzara, Ivo and Onicha federal constituency between 2011 to 2019, has claimed that declaring him wanted by Umahi was one of the governor’s ‘artful schemes to silence all opposition voices in Ebonyi State.’
The state government made the declaration on Tuesday after a Security Council meeting held at Governor’s office, Ochoudo Centenary City, Abakaliki.
State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Uchenna Orji who stated this while briefing the media on the outcome of the State Security Council, accused Mr Okorie of making inciting posts on his Facebook page which, according to government, heated up the polity in the State particularly in Ikwo local government area, where an operative of Ebubeagu security outfit was hacked to death, two weeks ago.
“Council council considered a report presented to it by security agencies on the beheading of an Ebubeagu official in Ikwo local government area on 9th of January 2022”.
“The council noted the report on the issues and the revelation contained that report and therefore resolved to declare wanted one Hon Linus Okorie for the publication of an inciting statements some of which were posted on Facebook that were traced to be part of the inflammatory publications that really invited that very tension that led to the beheading of the Ebubeagu official”.
Mr Orji said the council noted that some other persons were accessories to the gruesome murder of the individual, adding that the council urged security agencies to expedite action on the investigation with a view to bringing all those involved to face the law.
Reacting, Mr Okorie in a statement titled,” My Life is in danger from Governor Umahi’s Ebubeagu operatives”, said declaring him wanted by Umahi was one of his artful schemes to silence all opposition voices in Ebonyi State.
Okorie said, “I wish to alert the world that this is another of the artful schemes of Governor Umahi to silence all opposition voices in Ebonyi state by criminalizing it’s high profile leaders, use Ebubeagu to kill me on the excuse that I was evading arrest and also a veiled excuse to close down CitiHub event centre which has long been the desire of the governor and his close Aides and family members. It is also a ploy to distract attention from the Carnage that Ebubeagu has been wrecking on the the people of Ebonyi state as symbolized by the riots and killings in Akaeze in the past few days. Governor Umahi is simply looking for a high profile scapegoat to take attention away from the many lives being lost to Ebubeagu operatives across the state; and he has chosen me using his State Security Council.
“If, indeed, such a decision was arrived taken by the Security Council, one would doubt that the police and other security agencies were represented at such a meeting. This is because it is the duty of the Nigerian Police to investigate crimes and invite all named suspects for interrogation and even when a suspect fails to honor an invitation, there is a clear procedure that must be followed before such a person can be declared wanted by the police and not any security council meeting.
“Let it be known that I have never been invited to answer to any allegations by the Nigerian Police or other security agencies anywhere in Nigeria.
“Two, without so inviting by the police, I cannot lawfully be declared wanted by any authority for such an alleged crime by the police or any other authority under the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
