A combined team of soldiers and officials of
the Department of State Services (DSS) have invaded the home of a former
House of Representatives member, Hon Eziuche Ubani, in search of an
alleged stockpile of arms.
Speaking with journalists at his Ovom residence in Obingwa local
government area, Ubani, a former editor of This Day newspaper who is the
current Abia state commissioner for works, said the security officials
who came in six Hilux vans, rudely woke him up at about 2am when they
smashed their way into his home and turned every thing upside down.
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“No one was spared; no one was respected. Even my wife’s vanity box was ransacked,” he said.
This Day reports that the invading team had brandished a search warrant and told him that they had information that he was stockpiling arms and training youths to assassinate leaders of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Ubani said that after some of them had scaled the high wall, broken the gate and let others into the compound, they proceeded into the house and smashed the door of the boys quarters, beat up his drivers and ordered them to where he was sleeping.
The legislator who represented Osisioma, Obingwwa, Ugwunagbo federal constituency in the House of Representatives between 2007 and 2015, stated that the security team ransacked every room in his house.
When journalists visited the former lawmaker’s home, beds were still turned upside down, piles of cloths littered the floor, books in his study were scattered around, while several cartons of wheel chairs he had procured for distribution to disabled persons were slashed.
Ubani said he was glad that at the end of search, the security operatives found nothing and wrote it down on a paper and signed that nothing incriminating was found in his home.
He said it was apparent that the security men acted on a spurious allegation made by some members of APGA.
According to Ubani, Ahamdi Nweke, who was the party’s senatorial candidate for Abia central, had called him on the phone last Sunday and accused him of conspiring to send assassins to eliminate him, and threatened to deal with him.
“I’m not fighting anybody,” he said, adding that if the DSS had received any petition against him they should have invited him to their office to make a statement before coming to search his house, if necessary.
The Abia state government in reaction to the incident has condemned the invasion of Ubani’s residence saying it was “unwarranted and unacceptable”.
The commissioner for information and strategy, Bonnie Iwuoha, expressed the government’s displeasure at the incident while addressing journalists at Ubani’s residence.
He said the government demands an explanation and an unreserved apology from the security agencies concerned, adding that such things should not happen in a peaceful society.
Iwuoha described Ubani as a peace loving man and hence the government “feels concerned and embarrassed that this sort of thing is happening to an official of the state government.”
The commissioner used the forum to call on those funding disturbances in the state to stop forthwith as government would not condone the violence in any guise.
Information gathered suggests that there has been turbulence raging since the Court of Appeal nullified the election of the state governor, Dr Okezie Ikeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared Mr Alex Otti of the APGA the rightful winner of the April governorship election.
Sources say the tension has been experienced largely in the Aba-Ngwa axis of the state. Witnesses claim that since the court’s pronouncement protests have rocked Aba, the state’s centre for commerce, and some of the protests reportedly became violent.
Dr Alex Otti, the recently declared governor-elect, has condemned the violence that greeted the court’s announcement in Aba. Otti alleged that the violence was the handiwork of supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Meanwhile, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has warned against an alleged plot to swear in Otti as the new governor on Monday, January 4, based on the appeal court’s verdict.
Ikpeazu warned that any attempt to swear Otti in would be at best looked at as an illegal exercise within the state, and one that will be treated as such.
Hon Eziuche Ubani’s home was invaded by a combined team of soldiers and men of the DSS.
READ ALSO:Labour Ministry Debunks Collecting CVs For Massive Employment
“No one was spared; no one was respected. Even my wife’s vanity box was ransacked,” he said.
This Day reports that the invading team had brandished a search warrant and told him that they had information that he was stockpiling arms and training youths to assassinate leaders of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Ubani said that after some of them had scaled the high wall, broken the gate and let others into the compound, they proceeded into the house and smashed the door of the boys quarters, beat up his drivers and ordered them to where he was sleeping.
The legislator who represented Osisioma, Obingwwa, Ugwunagbo federal constituency in the House of Representatives between 2007 and 2015, stated that the security team ransacked every room in his house.
When journalists visited the former lawmaker’s home, beds were still turned upside down, piles of cloths littered the floor, books in his study were scattered around, while several cartons of wheel chairs he had procured for distribution to disabled persons were slashed.
Ubani said he was glad that at the end of search, the security operatives found nothing and wrote it down on a paper and signed that nothing incriminating was found in his home.
He said it was apparent that the security men acted on a spurious allegation made by some members of APGA.
According to Ubani, Ahamdi Nweke, who was the party’s senatorial candidate for Abia central, had called him on the phone last Sunday and accused him of conspiring to send assassins to eliminate him, and threatened to deal with him.
“I’m not fighting anybody,” he said, adding that if the DSS had received any petition against him they should have invited him to their office to make a statement before coming to search his house, if necessary.
The Abia state government in reaction to the incident has condemned the invasion of Ubani’s residence saying it was “unwarranted and unacceptable”.
The commissioner for information and strategy, Bonnie Iwuoha, expressed the government’s displeasure at the incident while addressing journalists at Ubani’s residence.
He said the government demands an explanation and an unreserved apology from the security agencies concerned, adding that such things should not happen in a peaceful society.
Iwuoha described Ubani as a peace loving man and hence the government “feels concerned and embarrassed that this sort of thing is happening to an official of the state government.”
The commissioner used the forum to call on those funding disturbances in the state to stop forthwith as government would not condone the violence in any guise.
Information gathered suggests that there has been turbulence raging since the Court of Appeal nullified the election of the state governor, Dr Okezie Ikeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared Mr Alex Otti of the APGA the rightful winner of the April governorship election.
Sources say the tension has been experienced largely in the Aba-Ngwa axis of the state. Witnesses claim that since the court’s pronouncement protests have rocked Aba, the state’s centre for commerce, and some of the protests reportedly became violent.
Dr Alex Otti, the recently declared governor-elect, has condemned the violence that greeted the court’s announcement in Aba. Otti alleged that the violence was the handiwork of supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Meanwhile, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has warned against an alleged plot to swear in Otti as the new governor on Monday, January 4, based on the appeal court’s verdict.
Ikpeazu warned that any attempt to swear Otti in would be at best looked at as an illegal exercise within the state, and one that will be treated as such.
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