‘He was kidnapped outside a bank’ — wife of Action Alliance chairman speaks

Some gunmen kidnapped Kenneth Udeze, national chairman of the Action Alliance (AA), in Abuja, on Friday.

Genevieve Udeze, his wife, told TheCable that the armed men, believed to be security agents, accosted her husband outside a Zenith Bank branch in Dutse Alhaji, Kubwa area of the federal capital territory.

She said they showed him an arrest warrant before taking him away in a black-coloured Toyota jeep.

She said her husband had visited the bank to complain about some illegal withdrawals from his account by suspected hackers.

“He went to the bank to complain about some transactions … someone hacked into his account and he went to lodge a complaint. But when he was through and was to enter his vehicle, those men approached him, showed him an ID card with a warrant of arrest from Zuba police station; he now entered their car and told his driver to come and inform me,” she said.

“We are still trying to locate them. They claimed that they are police officers from Zuba; that they brought a warrant of arrest from Zuba, but we have gone to the station and they said it did not emanate from them that they are not the one.

“I went to Kubwa too. Right now, I am at FCT police command to find out if the men are actually police officers and if they know anything because they were in mufti. I learnt that they were five men inside the ForeRunner Toyota, black jeep. His driver was with him.

“For now, I don’t know who they are.”

Asked if her husband had received any threatening messages or calls prior to the incident, she replied said: “What I know is that, that AA withdrawal from Imo state tribunal did not go down well with Uche Nwosu and co. We have been receiving calls from them, and the people they have been sending. Even at this time, they are my first suspect.”

In June, the AA suspended Uche Nwosu, its candidate in the March governorship election in the state.

Nwosu, who is a son-in-law of Rochas Okorocha, a former governor of Imo, was accused of insubordination, anti-party activities and mismanagement of funds.

Udeze had alleged that Nwosu “serially undermined the principle of party supremacy” and also divided its members in Imo.

He had also threatened to dissolve the AA in the state if its members continue to disobey the party.