On Saturday, the Peoples Democratic Party in Imo State raised the alarm over what it described as the ongoing attempts by armed agents in the state to assassinate Hon. Uju Kingsley Chima is a member of the House of Representatives who represents the federal constituency of Ohaji-Egbema, Oguta, and Oru West.
In today’s elections, Chima is also running as the PDP candidate for the district.
Collins Opurozor, the PDP’s publicity secretary in Imo State, said in a statement that he had twice narrowly averted being shot, including on Friday night.
He stated, “Our party warns Nigerians that our candidate narrowly avoided two extremely vicious onslaughts that were intended at his life in the previous three days. Three days ago, while he was closing up his campaign at Umuapu in Ohaji-Egbema, these state-sponsored thugs entered the arena and wreaked havoc on our candidate, sparing neither our party members nor any defenceless Imo State residents.
“At around 10 p.m. yesterday, truckloads of armed men arrived in vehicles that included armoured personnel carriers at the rural house of our candidate in Umuorji, Egbema. They occupied his home, sealed off the neighbourhood, and began a frantic hunt for our murder target. They inflicted unspeakable anguish on everyone and everything in sight after failing to kill him. They kidnapped members of his family and friends of his political cause, beating even elderly men and women to death.
“The attacks have not stopped as of yet; an armoured tank is still parked in front of his home, and the terrorists are still free to carry out their operations. Imo State is seeing this on election day!
“No security agency in the state has deemed it appropriate to act and save lives and property at Umuorji, Egbema, despite the hues and cries that our party and our candidate have issued since these attacks started. This calls into question the Imo State security establishment’s neutrality and impartiality.
“Our party notes that the last plot to gruesomely eliminate Hon. Uju Kingsley Chima was hatched immediately after the efforts by the bestial and rampaging Imo APC regime to frame him over some very dangerous criminal acts hit the rocks.”
Opurozor noted that on December 25, 2022, the PDP had obtained intelligence and had appropriately informed Nigerians of a very nasty scheme by government agents to recruit certainly arrested bandits in the state and pressure them to incriminate Chima in exchange for their release and pardon.
“Oddly, the propaganda arm of the Imo State administration has been engaged to sell a very disgraceful lie, that our candidate was detained by EFCC, DSS, and the Police in the wake of yesterday night’s unsuccessful assassination attempt,” he added. As a result, this has exposed the APC-led government in Imo and proven their entire complicity in the attack.
“Regrettably, Imo’s government has become little more than a rogue business. Under this unelected government, treasury theft, bloodletting, arson, brigandage, forced disappearances, and gangsterism have become staples of state policy.
“Our party urges President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in this situation and rein in Senator Hope Uzodinma and his thugs.
Moreover, Imo PDP implores the Inspector General of Police to launch an inquiry into the operations of the Tiger Base of the Imo State Police Command to determine how that Base was involved in these heinous crimes committed around the State.”