On March 28, 2015, during the Presidential and National Assembly elections in Imo State, Rt. Hon. Ugochukwu Nzekwe, a former member of Imo State House of Assembly for eight years, having initially won election under the minority ANPP platform in 2003 before decamping to the PDP, where he was re-elected was the APC Agent for Nkwerre Ward, 003 Owerri Nkwoji.
As the Deputy Chairman of Imo State, All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Nzekwe did not envisage the ugly fate that eventually befell him before the conclusion of the election, in the hands of PDP thugs and partisan military men, armed to kill or paid to maim innocent Imo citizens, by PDP leaders desperate for power.
An unsuspecting Nzekwe had felt at home in Nkwerre where his father was a former Eshi and Traditional ruler of Nkwerre Ancient Kingdom before the creation of Owerri Nkwoji Atonoumous Community where he officiated and served as Collation Agent for his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Nkwerre is home to the Ihekwoabas, Theo and Theo paints, late Wiilie and Gina Onyejiakas, Eze Nhonna, Bishop Daddy Hezekial, Hon. Jones Onyeriri and the Anyaehies, hence he never saw the need to fortify his security or move around with thugs. Besides, both accreditation and voting had gone on and concluded peacefully at the polling booth where he cast his vote. He never suspected that he has been marked out for death by those who feel he was a stumbling block.
Next was the collation centre at Owerri, Nkwoji where the booths results were to be collated, but this could not be. Trouble however started when he attempted to join others at the INEC office collation centre near the council headquarters at Umudi, after waiting for results from the various polling units to be collated at the Owerri Nkwoji ward level, first before proceeding to the council headquarters, Accompanied by our roving election monitoring reporters who felt jolted when it became obvious and glaring that the booth Presiding Officers and other INEC adhoc staff had disappeared with the results and other election materials, without first collatting the result at the ward level, Hon. Nzekwe stormed the Local Government Secretariat where he expressed disapproval at the resort to the council collation exercise with results from the booths thus by passing the ward collation centres. It was at this juncture that PDP stalwarts alerted the gun throttling soldiers with fingers at the triggers ready to shoot kill or maim that Hon. Ugochukwu Nzekwe was not working for the interest and victory of PDP.
Not minding our presence and the fact that we were with both INEC media costumes and identification cards conspicuously displayed, these soldiers swooped on the former legislator beating and kicking him even in the groin until he passed out. His offence was that he raised an objection against willful resort to Umudi instead of collating at the ward.
Oblivious of the caliber and status of Chief Nzekwe as the APC Deputy Chairman in Imo State and INEC accredited collation agent of APC, these soldiers obviously on illegal duties since the court of competent jurisdiction and INEC had earlier banned them, draged him into their vehicle and sped off.
The next we heard of Hon. Ugochukwu Nzekwe was that he was detained at the State Security Services (SSS) office in Owerri despite sustaining bleeding bodily injuries and harm, from which he should have been allowed to seek medical treatments.
It was not until long after the results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections in Nkwerre had been doctored and manipulated in favour of a brutalizing PDP bullies, that Nzekwe was allowed to breathe the air of freedom, this time at the Intensive Unit of a private clinic in Owerri, where we later, invaded on enquiry met him as he was receiving treatment. Rt. Hon. Ugochukwu Nzekwe, a very courageous member of the Imo State House of Assembly who severally challenged Rt. Hon. Goodluck Opiah for turning the Imo State House of Assembly into a rubber stamp for Governor Ikedi Ohakim was not alone in this scripted brutality unleashed on innocent people by a totally biased and partisan soldiers. One of the beneficiaries of this fraud and conspiracy is Chief Jones Onyeriri, who was pronounced re-elected when he was said to have lost the election.
Other victims who are lucky to still be alive to tell their sordid stories and traumatic experiences in the hands of these devils inspired members of Nigerian Armed Forces are many. They include Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the Media Assistant to Governor Rochas Okorocha Aboh Mbaise LGA born Sam Onwuemeodo, who is a devout Christian of the Assemblies of God Church, was captured by the same soldiers who according to him were acting the scripts of PDP. He had joined others for the card reader voters accreditation when all of a sudden, a military vehicle pulled before him with one of the notorious personnel jumping out even before the vehicle will screetch to a halt asking him if he was Sam Onwuemodo. Having responded in the affirmative, they accused him of moving around with or being in possession of fire arms for which they bundled him home to conduct an illicit search.
It did not take twenty minutes after the search party had concluded their project that the soldiers this time forced Sam Onwuemeodo into their vehicle and got him detained at the Area Command Owerri for the period of the accreditation, voting, counting of votes and collation of results, none of the overzealous soldiers who were reportedly on illegal duties was able to tell him of what offence he was arrested, rough handled, and detained.
Chief Chidi Ibeh, the Imo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy was luckier. Those who dealt with him at Ahiazu Mbaise who thought he would influence the pattern of voting in the area had beaten him up and ordered him to sit on bare floor as if he was caught breaking into INEC office. He is still nursing several degrees of bodly injuries which he sustained for attempting to exercise his franchise which was not even confirmed to be against Jonathan or PDP candidate.
