Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Ebonyi State, Prof Bernard Odoh, has asked the inspector-general of police (IGP) and the Department of Security Services (DSS) to protect him from being harmed by agents of the state government.
His request followed the withdrawal of the security operatives attached to him by the state commissioner of police, CP Sunday Faleye, less than 72 hours to the governorship and state House of Assembly elections in the state.
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Odoh in a press statement he signed yesterday said his life had been in danger and declared the withdrawal of the police attachees as strange and unjustifiable.
The police had on Monday declared Odoh wanted over the murder of the traditional ruler of Umuezeokaha community in Ezza North local government area of the state, HRH Igboke Ewa.
It gathered that the state police command withdrew the police operatives attached to Odoh on Tuesday night.
Odoh said, “I wish to formally raise the alarm and draw the attention of all men of goodwill that the Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State Command has withdrawn all officers officially assigned to me.
“Recall that I had recently reacted to a very strange action of the State’s Police Command which declared me wanted alongside 9 others over a murder allegation that I have already approached a Court of competent jurisdiction and have consistently maintained that I know nothing about.”
The APGA governorship candidate maintained that the Ebonyi State Police Command has become more of the devil’s advocate. “A very willing tool in the hands of a conspicuously desperate Umahi-led APC administration in Ebonyi to harass, intimidate, coerce and arrest my supporters with myself being hunted extra-judicially.”
Odoh said that following the withdrawal of the officers attached to his residence in Abakaliki and Umuezeokoha village, “I suspect very strongly that both Governor Umahi, the APC governorship candidate and speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru and the police may be up for a game to perhaps plant dangerous weapons within my vicinity and then frame me up in order to get substantive evidence.
“That I raise this alarm with a strong sense of responsibility as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA in the Ebonyi 2023 governorship candidate calling on the IGP, the DSS and sister security agencies to protect me, my immediate and extended families from the devious plots of the Ebonyi State government.
“That Governor Umahi, Speaker Nwifuru and the CP should be held responsible for any harm that befalls me as we hope to wrap up our campaigns ahead of Saturday’s polls. I haven’t committed any crime other than seeking the mandate of Ebonyians to pilot their affairs,” he said.