Nwosu spoke to journalists in Owerri on Tuesday. He said the plan was to assassinate him. He was released 24 hours after
Son-in-law of Senator Rochas Okorocha, Uche Nwosu, has accused the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, of being the brain behind his abduction at the St Peter’s Anglican Church Eziama Obaire in the Nkwerre Local Government Area of the state.
Nwosu spoke to journalists in Owerri on Tuesday. He said the plan was to assassinate him.
According to Nwosu, he was arrested in church, taken to Enugu airport, and loaded in a chartered aircraft to Abuja. He alleged that Uzodimma flew on the same aircraft.
Read Also: Obasanjo, Jonathan, Chihombori-Quao to grace Future Africa Leaders Awards
Nwosu claimed that he was stripped half-naked, handcuffed on the orders of the state governor.
He accused Uzodimma of procuring the young man who accused him in a viral video of giving him money to escalate insecurity in the state.
Nwosu advised Uzodimma to eschew bitterness and concentrate more on governance than politics.
He said that those who arrested him, invaded the church, jumped to the altar, disrupted the ongoing sermon, and shot indiscriminately in the church.
Nwosu added, “When they drove off, they started making calls in Hausa, and unknown to them I understand Hausa. They were telling one Shaba, who is the Chief Security Officer that they have got me. At Umuaka, they stopped and ordered that I should get down. At that point, I thought they were to assassinate me. They bundled me into another vehicle and they drove off.
“When we got to Owerri, three other vehicles drove straight to the government house and the one carrying me drove towards Okigwe Road, and I asked them where they were taking me to but they never responded to me. They drove towards Okigwe and stopped. At this point, I thought they wanted to assassinate me. They asked me to remove my cloth, handcuffed me, snapped me, made a video, and sent it to the governor’s CSO.
“We continued until we got to Enugu airport. We waited for about 90 minutes before a chartered flight arrived. We boarded and we landed in Abuja. We moved to force headquarters and we did interviews. They accused me of sponsoring insecurity in Imo State. I want to thank the IGP who intervened and ordered my release.”
TheNiche had reported how gunmen, who later turned out to be policemen, abducted the former governorship candidate in Imo State, Uche Nwosu, after firing a barrage of bullets into the air to ward off his police security aides. But the Imo State police command later issued a statement, saying Nwosu was not kidnapped but arrested.
He was arrested during a church service. The arrest was captured in a video recorded by some congregants who thought it was abduction. In the video, the onlookers could be heard reading out the plate number of the getaway vehicle to be Abia UMA 110 AA.
According to the voices in the video clip, the policemen stormed the St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Eziama-Obaire in Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo State.
Uche Nwosu is the son-in-law of Senator Rochas Okorocha. He was chief of staff when Okorocha was governor of Imo State. He later became commissioner for lands.
He was the 2019 governorship candidate of Action Alliance, AA.