Akume, 16 others quizzed by SSS in Abuja

SENATOR George Akume, two other chieftains of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and 14 others in Benue State have been arrested,

quizzed and moved to the State Security Service (SSS) headquarters in Abuja for further interrogation on the alleged breach, incitement to cause public disorder in the state.

Nigerian Tribune reliably gathered that Senator Akume; ACN governorship candidate, Professor Steven Torkuma Ugbah’s Special Adviser, Mr Samuel Adam Magbe, and former chairman, Tarka Local Government Council, Simon Abua, were picked up, at the weekend, by the security operatives, quizzed at the state police headquarters before they were whisked to Abuja.

Commenting on the arrest and quizzing of its chieftains and supporters, while speaking to the Nigerian Tribune the director-general, ACN, Professor David Iornem, said the arrest of the party’s members was outrageous.

He described the arrest as a gross violation of the rights of Nigerians to express their opinions, as contained in the constitution and that it did not augur well for democracy, which Nigerians yearned for over the years.

On the alleged harassment and intimidation of ACN members, the director-general said that rather than it frightening the party officials and supporters, it would strengthen them to continue with the struggle to assert their inherent rights to win the case at the election tribunal, as enshrined in electoral laws and in the Nigerian constitution.

He said: “How can the SSS and police restrict our members from attending the tribunal sittings? The court is a public place. It is not a secret place but can be accessed by everybody.”

Also reacting, Senator Joseph Waku stated that the arrest and investigation by the SSS would help in putting the issues straight, if they were not jaundiced, maintaining that rather than shielding injustice, the perpetrators would be known. Waku, however, expressed dismay at the arrest of the special adviser to the party’s gubernatorial candidate, who escaped the bullets of suspected killers on the Lafia/Makurdi road.

In a related development, Senator Akume, Professor Ugbah and Wanteregh Paul Unongo were said to have been invited by the Inspector General of Police for allegedly making inciting and inflamatory statements that could cause public disorder in the state over the death of the late Charles Ayede, Special Adviser on Media to Professor Ugbah.

It will be recalled that the chairman of the, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, Dr Emmanuel Agbo, had accused the ACN of trying to cause a breakdown of law and order in the state through its deliberate propangada to incite the people.