{"id":61542,"date":"2023-01-05T20:35:17","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T20:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=61542"},"modified":"2023-01-05T20:35:17","modified_gmt":"2023-01-05T20:35:17","slug":"apc-reps-candidate-party-chairman-deny-involvement-in-ebonyi-killings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=61542","title":{"rendered":"APC Reps candidate, party chairman deny involvement in Ebonyi killings"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki (www.ikengaonline.com<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives candidate, Eni Uduma Chima, and the State Party Chairman, Stanley Okoro Emegha, have denied involvement in the killings which recently rocked Edda Community, Afikpo South Local Government Area.<\/p>\n

At least\u00a0four persons were killed in political violence in the area on boxing day in the past\u00a0year and on New Year day.<\/p>\n

The violence according to police was as a result of supremacy battle between the duo who have been age-long political foes despite being in same party.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

On boxing day,\u00a0a clash between supporters of the duo took place in Ekoli Edda leading to the death of three persons.<\/p>\n

Those killed include Mr Emegha\u2019s younger brother, his police detail and a youth Leader from the community.<\/p>\n

Mr Emegha\u2019s house and security van was also set ablaze.<\/p>\n

Reports said Mr Emegha\u2019s security aides shot sporadically in the community killing the youth leader which prompted a reprisal that\u00a0led to the killing of his police aide, younger\u00a0brother,\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0burning of\u00a0his properties.<\/p>\n

On new year day, gunmen stormed the home of Ebubeagu Commander, Kalu Chima, killing his wife and burning down his house\u00a0in the same local government area.<\/p>\n

The incident happened in Ama Etiti-Amoso village, Etiti Edda community in the same local government area.<\/p>\n

Mr Kalu alleged that the attackers were supporters of the APC House of Representatives candidate.<\/p>\n

Also there have been allegations that those who carried\u00a0out the killings were from Ekoli Edda.<\/p>\n

Ekoli people not involved in attack on Ebubeagu Commander\u00a0\u2013\u00a0APC Reps Candidate<\/strong><\/p>\n

But Mr Eni Uduma Chima on Thursday, exonerated the people of Ekoli Edda community in the council area from the killing of the wife of the Ebubeagu Commander, Kalu Chima.<\/p>\n

This was as he vowed to deploy his time, energy and resources to, in collaboration with security agencies, unravel the perpetrators of the heinous act.<\/p>\n

He also urged mischief makers to steer clear from their antics of disunity and name-calling in order to curry favour from the authorities.<\/p>\n

Mr Eni claimed neither he nor any member of his Ekoli Edda community had a hand in the incident, calling on relevant authorities to swing into action to unearth those responsible\u00a0and bring them to book.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe killing of a pregnant woman and wife of the Commander of Ebubeagu Security Operatives in Afikpo South Local Government Area is extremely wicked and condemnable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis barbaric act cannot be excused under any guise, and I shall invest my time, material, and other resources to get to the root of the matter and cause law enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I condemn in the strongest terms these satanic acts, I make bold to state that the general public should not be deceived by the attempts by desperately wicked individuals to divert attention from objective, thorough and diligent investigation. The red herring will not stand and their dubious conclusion cannot endure, for it will be exposed for what it is\u00a0\u2013 a sham.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not wish to join issues with the S.A. to the Governor of Ebonyi State on Internal Security, Hon. Eze Panchris Ikechukwu, concerning the statement attributed to him to the effect that the atrocities of arson and murder of a pregnant woman were traceable to Barr. Eni Uduma Chima, former Chairman of Afikpo South Local Government Area, as the sponsor and \u201cthose who call themselves Warriors of Edda or Ekoli\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHon. Eze Panchris Ikechukwu may be speaking from an honest but ignorant mindset, especially having no training in crime and investigation. But then, such disposition should not be a license to sell dummies to the public when he has ample room to double-check and find facts.<\/p>\n

\u201cEze may also be speaking from emotions, considering the enormity of the crimes and the fact that the Commander of Ebubeagu whose wife was killed, is his comrade. Also, coming at the heels of the ugly occurrences in Ekoli Edda on 26th December 2022, the temptation to generalise hastily is there, yet, one should be circumspect with words not backed up with corresponding facts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI make bold to assert that the arson and killing of a pregnant woman in Amoso Edda have nothing to do with the Ekoli-Edda people, who regrettably violently reacted to the killing of a youth leader- Mr. Eseni Kalu Egwu\u00a0\u2013 in Ekoli Edda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Amoso Edda atrocities also have nothing to do with the supporters and loyalists of Barr. Eni Uduma Chima who are currently being harassed all over the places by Ebubeagu Operatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

I did not provoke shootings, says APC Chairman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the State APC Chairman,\u00a0Mr Stanley Emegha,\u00a0who is also the Special Security Consultant to the State Government, denied provoking shootings in Ekoli Edda, Afikpo South Local Government Area of the state in which his younger brother was killed and his houses and vehicle burnt.<\/p>\n

Emegha described as wicked, false and mischievous, the reports in some sections of the media that he was blowing siren and shooting sporadically which provoked the killings.<\/p>\n

He wondered why he was linked to the shootings in the community which started in Ameke village in the area where he went to inspect a town hall he was building for the people.<\/p>\n

He opined that the traditional rulers have absolved him of the shootings before Governor Umahi and challenged journalists to always cross-check their information before dishing them out to the public and expressed dismay over the reports.<\/p>\n

He expressed confidence in the security agencies in the state who he said will unravel the truth and bring perpetrators of the mayhem to book.<\/p>\n

Emegha commended Governor Umahi for his quick intervention into the dastardly\u00a0act and peaceful leadership which he said prevented it from escalation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people don\u2019t know is that I was with traditional rulers who came to congratulate me on the recent award by His Excellency the Governor.<\/p>\n

After seeing the elders, I moved to where I am\u00a0building a town hall for the people of my village.\u00a0While I was there inspecting the building, I started hearing gunshots.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a peaceful person and a man under grace, I ordered \u00a0security personnel that were\u00a0with\u00a0me not to respond to the shootings because it will lead to many things \u00a0which I will not like and they obeyed me and we left the community immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt what point did I shoot and blow \u00a0any siren?,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u25aa\ufe0e By Ikenga\u00a0 Online\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki (www.ikengaonline.com) All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives candidate, Eni Uduma Chima, and the State Party Chairman, Stanley Okoro Emegha, have denied involvement in the killings which recently rocked Edda Community, Afikpo South Local Government Area. At least\u00a0four persons were killed in political violence in the area on boxing day in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":56438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5807],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-crime-and-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}