Uche Nwosu, former governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA) in Imo, says his arrest was politically motivated.
Nwosu was arrested on Sunday during a church service in Imo, but was released hours later without spending a night in police custody.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, Nwosu narrated how he was arrested by masked armed security operatives and taken to Abuja.
“While the sermon was ongoing, I saw some security men who came into the church, I asked my boys to go and welcome them because I thought they escorted a VIP to the church to condole with me over the death of my mother,” he said.
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“All of a sudden, over 15 masked security operatives jumped into the church. While some rushed to the altar, some came to where I was sitting and ordered me to move or they will move me. They started shooting and disrupted the sermon that was ongoing.
“I demanded to know what was going on but they said they had an instruction to bring me. They manhandled me and bundled me into one of the vehicles they came in. One of them ordered me to lie down and one of them placed his leg on my head.
“When they drove off, they started making calls in Hausa, and unknown to them I understand Hausa. They were telling one Shaba, who is the chief security officer that they have got me.
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“At Umuaka, they stopped and ordered that I should get down. At that point, I thought they were to assassinate me. They bundled me into another vehicle and they drove off.
“When we got to Owerri, three other vehicles drove straight to the government house and the one carrying me drove towards Okigwe Road, and I asked them where they were taking me to but they never responded to me. They drove towards Okigwe and stopped. At this point, I thought they wanted to assassinate me. They asked me to remove my cloth, handcuffed me, snapped me, made a video, and sent it to the governor’s CSO.
“We continued until we got to Enugu airport. We waited for about 90 minutes before a chartered flight arrived. We boarded and we landed in Abuja. We moved to Force Headquarters and we did interviews. They accused me of sponsoring insecurity in Imo State. I want to thank the IGP who intervened and ordered my release.”
Responding to Nwosu’s claims, Declan Emelumba, Imo commissioner for information and strategy, said: “This is a malicious concoction, that can only be made up by a drowning man.”
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“It is pitiable that rather than go into a sobering reflection on his arrest, Nwosu, upon his release on bail, was in a hurry to allege without any proof that his arrest was masterminded by Imo state government,” the commissioner said.
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