Rivers lawmaker, Chidi Lloyd, arrested for alleged murder

The lawmaker is accused of killing two people

The police in Rivers State has arrested the Majority Leader of the State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, for the alleged murder of a political opponent and a police officer.

The Police in a statement by its spokesperson, Ahmed Mohammed, Thursday, said Mr. Lloyd killed the duo of Kingsley Ejeuo, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP who was also referred to as an opponent of Mr. Lloyd. He was also accused of killing Urang Obadiah, a police sergeant.

The statement said Mr. Lloyd on December 30, 2013, recklessly drove a vehicle and killed the two persons. The incident occurred at Emohua, along the East-West road.

“The Rivers State Police Command has arrested Hon. Chidi Llyod of the Rivers State House of Assembly for murder of Police Sgt. Urang Obediah and Mr. Kingsley Ejeuo, his kinsman and arch political opponent,” the police statement said.

It also said Mr. Lloyd was arrested after he tried to escape Port Harcourt.

“He was arrested on his way to join His Excellency Governor Amaechi Rotimi in his private jet at the Air Force base to escape justice,” the statement added.

Giving details of the incident, the police said Sergeant Obadiah was killed by Mr. Lloyd when he tried to stop the lawmaker from pursuing Mr. Ejeuo.

The police also said the lawmaker “rammed over the Passat car in which Ejeuo was driving, killing him on the spot”.

The statement also stated that the police initially thought the incident was a mere accident, but began to suspect murder when the lawmaker relocated from the initial private hospital where he was being treated for injuries he sustained.

It said the State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, had dispatched an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, Aliyu Garba, to visit the lawmaker only to learn that he had relocated.

“While being guarded by four police in his hospital bed, he sneaked out through the hospital’s back door in three tinted bullet proof jeeps and escaped,” the statement said.

The statement said it was after that that the police began to raise suspicion and went into further investigations on the purported accident.

Mr. Lloyd is already facing prosecution at a High Court in Port Harcourt for slamming one of his colleagues, Michael Chinda, with the Assembly’s mace last year during a fracas between loyalist lawmakers of the state governor Rotimi Amaechi, and his opponents.