The Governor of Ebonyi State, Engineer Dave Umahi has been accused of allegedly setting his former ally, Hon. Linus Chinedu Okorie, up on trumped-up charges of murder over Ebonyi South Senatorial District seat.
A source reliably informed News Band that Governor Umahi and Mr. Okorie were once close allies.
The source disclosed that trouble, however, began when the governor denied him the ticket to return to the National Assembly in 2019.
Okorie was a member of the House of Representatives representing Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo Constituency in Ebonyi Umahi worked against him in 2019, meanwhile.
Things became worse when Umahi later decided to jump ship from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and decamped to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and many of them refused to decamp with him.
The source revealed: “Linus Okorie used to be a close ally of Dave Umahi but the relationship broke down after Umahi denied him returning back to the National Assembly in 2019.
“Since then, Linus has been a strong critic of Umahi. It has been cat and dog fights ever since.
“Recall in 2020 when Umahi decamped to APC and many of them refused to decamp with him? At that point Umahi levelled all sorts of allegations against all of them, including Linus.
“He even said that they were sponsoring IPOB against the state government. At some point, the Commissioner for Information unlawfully declared Linus wanted in Ebonyi State.
“The Federal High Court in Abuja declared the act of Ebonyi State government and its agents illegal and ordered that Linus should be paid compensation.
“This has not been paid till date. The criticism continued until now.
“Now Umahi is Ebonyi South senatorial candidate of APC while Linus is struggling to get the ticket of Labour party (although Ajim Best won him in the High Court, but Linus is appealing the judgement).
“That is the current battle.”
According to him, just on Sunday, Linus was abducted by Ebubeagu militia and given ‘the Umahi treatment’.
In a bizarre twist of events, however, because of the outcry within and outside the state, they changed their mind and cooked up all sorts of trumped-up charges and allegations and handed him over to the police.
In the charges, it was alleged that Linus, amongst other things, murdered one Uchenna Okoro, committed Advance Fee Fraud (419), obtained National Identity Card Registration Machine, et al.
See the attached documents below:
In a separate charge, he was accused of murder of one Donatus Okoro and promoting inter-communal war.
See also the attached document below:
Timeline of actions against Okorie
In February, 2022, the Commissioner for Information unlawfully declared Linus wanted in Ebonyi State.
It took the intervention of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja which directed the Inspector-General of Police and the Ebonyi State Government to stay action on the resolution of the State Security Council meeting declaring the former member of the House of Representatives wanted over alleged security breach.
Justice Inyang Ekwo specifically ordered parties to the suit, including the Department of State Services (DSS) to maintain status quo ante bellum, pending further orders of the court.
On October 17, some Ebubeagu security militia reportedly abducted Okorie, who is currently the flag bearer of the Labour Party for the Ebonyi South Senatorial District for the 2023 elections.
According to a statement by Dr. David Ogbonna made on behalf of Okorie, Okorie’s abduction was masterminded by Onicha Local Government Area Chairman, Chidiebere Uzor.
On October 19, the Magistrate Court ordered the remand of Okorie, who is contesting for the same legislative seat with Governor Umahi, at the Nigeria Correctional Centre in Abakaliki, the state capital, over alleged conspiracy and murder.
Chris Anyanwu, spokesperson of the state police command, in a statement, claimed that apart from alleged drug-related offenses, Okorie’s activities and utterances “incited and provoked the violence that engulfed Onicha community which led to suspected gunmen to unleash mayhem in the area in 2021.”
He was also accused of “spreading fake news against umahi.”
Effort to reach the governor was unsuccessful as he did not answer his call and did not respond to text messages sent to his phone. (ELOMBAH)
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