Two populous communities in Ebonyi State, Onicha-Igboeze and Ugwulangwu in Onicha and Ohaozara Local Government Areas, on Monday boiled over the alleged abduction and torture of a former house of representatives member, Mr. Linus Okorie.
Okorie, the Ebonyi senatorial candidate of the Labour Party, was alleged to have been abducted and tortured by the members of Ebubeagu security operatives in the state and later handed over to the Ebonyi State Police Command, located opposite the old government house, Abakaliki.
DAILY POST gathered that Okorie was first arrested by Ebubeagu security operatives and kept in their office at old government house before handing him over to the police.
It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 11: 00 a.m along the popular Ogoja Road soon after Okorie reportedly left a hotel in Abakaliki in preparations for a meeting with stakeholders of Onicha community residents in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
A reliable family of the victim, who gave her name as Miss Nnanna Nwogo, said the family members have been restless since they got the information.
Some protesting women and youths in the area have barricaded roads leading in and out of Onicha Community.
The protesters carried placards with the following inscriptions; “No movement until we see Hon. Linus.”
“Onicha will be too hot for everybody,” they chanted in a video at one of the barricades.
In a swift reaction, the Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State command, CP Aliyu Garba, acknowledged Okorie’s arrest.
Garba, in a statement signed and issued to newsmen in Abakaliki by the PPRO, Chris Anyanwu, said: “It is also pertinent to mention that Linus Abaa Okorie 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. Case was later transferred to the NDLEA for further necessary actions.”
