The police in Ebonyi State have spoken about the alleged “abduction” of the Labour Party (LP) senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South District, Linus Okorie.
Mr Okorie is a former member of the House of Representatives.
He represented Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo Federal Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 2011 and 2019.
Mr Okorie defected from the PDP to the LP in August to pursue his 2023 senate ambition.
He would be contesting the Senate seat against Dave Umahi, who would be completing his tenure as the Ebonyi State governor next year.
David Ogbonna, a staffer of the former lawmaker’s foundation, Linus Okorie CaringHeart Foundation, in a statement on Sunday, said the victim was abducted by members of Ebubeagu Security Network, a South-east security outfit backed by the Ebonyi State Government.
The former lawmaker’s wife, Lilian, in a live video on her verified Facebook page on Sunday, also announced Mr Okorie’s abduction by the security outfit, claiming the action was ordered by Governor Umahi.
Police reaction
While reacting to the incident, the police said the LP candidate was arrested by Ebubeagu, and not abducted.
The police spokesperson in Ebonyi State, Chris Anyanwu, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
He said the police swung into action in response to the rumoured abduction of the former lawmaker and later traced him to the head office of the Ebubeagu security outfit at the Old Government House.
Mr Anyanwu said the police were “briefed” by the security outfit that Mr Okorie was arrested for “his activities and utterances that incited and provoked the violence that engulfed Onicha Local Government Area (of the state)”.
READ ALSO: Umahi speaks on Ebubeagu’s alleged involvement in killings
The police spokesperson said the incident led to an attack by gunmen suspected to be members of IPOB, an outlawed group, who reportedly killed seven persons in the area.
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“Hence, the case has now been taken over by the Police Command for preliminary investigation,” he said, without giving details.
“It is also pertinent to mention that Honourable Linus Abaa Okorie also has a pending case in which he is implicated in a drug-related offence where the suspects purported to be his agents were arrested for hard drug sales and use at his City Hub Inn, Mile 50, Abakaliki,” he said.
Mr Anyawu did not, however, say the drug case was part of the reason for Mr Okorie’s arrest.
“(the) Case was later transferred to the NDLEA for further necessary actions,” he stated.
He said Mr Okorie was also accused by the state government of spreading fake news against Governor Umahi, alleging that he (the governor) illegally withdrew the sum of N6.7 billion from the government’s account to fund the Appeal Court judgement against his removal from office.
Mr Anyanwu, a superintendent of police, said the LP candidate rebuffed police invitations to respond to the allegations against him but instead filed “fallacious suits” against the police in the state.
He defended the arrest of the LP candidate by the Ebubegu operatives, insisting that the security outfit is “a lawfully established local security outfit by the House of Assembly and Government of Ebonyi State” and that the security outfit was empowered by the state law to arrest anybody.
He said, as it is the norm, the security outfit has handed over Mr Okorie to the police in the state “for further investigation and other necessary actions.”
The police spokesperson, however, did not explain the link between the LP candidate’s rebuffing of police invitations and his arrest by the Ebubeagu operatives.
He was also silent on whether the police or government asked the security outfit to arrest the former lawmaker.
Ebubeagu was set up in 2021 by governors of the five states in the South-east to help in the fight against insecurity in the region, which has witnessed deadly attacks linked to Biafra agitation by the IPOB.
But the security outfit has been accused of extrajudicial killings in the region.
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