Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State Senator James John Udoedehe was yesterday flown by a helicopter from Abuja to Uyo.
The ACN has raised the alarm over his safety.
Udoedehe was rearrested last Thursday after Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, granted him bail.
He is facing a four-count charge of criminal conspiracy to commit treason.
On March 22, Udoedehe’s campaign team came under a hail of bullets at Ikot Ekpene where it went to campaign.
After the attack on his convoy, there was arson in Uyo in connection with which Udoedehe was arrested. He was accused of levying war against the state with intent to intimidate Governor Godswill Akpabio, who is also the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Udoedehe was said to have been detained at the police Headquarters in Uyo last night.
His lawyer, Mr. Niyi Akintola (SAN), told reporters that efforts to contact him were abortive.
Udoedehe’s wife, Justina, raised the alarm that there were desperate plans to kill her husband “in the name of election”.
She said her husband’s problem started during the March 22 ACN rally in Ikot-Ekpene when they were attacked PDP supporters who were said to be loyal to Akpabio.
Her words: “The policemen were there but couldn’t rescue us. It was MOPOL that God used to rescue us. My husband is suffering for what he does not know. When I wanted to see my husband, I was told that he had been taken away by a Police Chopper. I am begging everybody to tell Godswill Akpabio and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, to release my husband. President Jonathan has stated that nobody should use people’s blood to win election, but they want to use my husband’s blood to win election in Akwa Ibom state.”
Mrs. Akpanudoedehe, who hails from Ikot-Ekpene, on enquiring from the IGP why her husband had been flown to an unknown destination, she was told that, the order was from above.
Akintola disclosed that three of the 45 ACN supporters who were arrested in Akwa Ibom State had been reported dead.
He said, “Information just reaching me from Akwa Ibom state has it that out of the 45 people who were arraigned at a Federal High Court in Uyo on Friday three of them had died of food poisoning. No plea was taken and all of them were remanded. Just this (Monday) evening, three of the suspects have died.
“We have perfected the bail papers and all the conditions have been satisfied. I instructed my lawyers to accompany the bailiffs to get him freed. But, we were told that he has been taken away.
“Ordinarily, by this court order, nobody could detain him further for a minute. We as defence counsel have decided to file necessary papers in Abuja and Uyo to know where he is being kept and for what reason.”
Concerned indigenes of Akwa Ibom in Abuja have called for the release of Akpanudoedehe who, they warned, must not be harmed.
The leader of the group, Mrs. Mfon Umanah and foremost Reggae artiste Mr. Victor Eshiet (head of the group “The Mandators” demanded his release “in the interest of justice”.
Eshiet, who said he flew in from the United States, regretted that Nigeria has now become a place where human rights violations have transcended bounds of decency.
Some of the placards carried by the protesters read: “No to guns”; “No to police harassment and assassination”; “Save Akwa Ibom from cultism”; Give youth jobs, not guns”’ “Stop raping our women” and “Enough is enough”.
Akpanudoedehe was arraigned on a four count charge of treason before Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on March 25.
Granting him a N10 million bail with a surety in like sum, Justice Bello held that the Police had no evidence to link Akpanidoedehe to the charge.
In a statement issued in Ilorin, Kwara State, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ACN said its concern is in view of the glaring partisanship of the police in handling the Akwa Ibom case and the arrest of 41 ACN supporters in Akwa Ibom, whose only offence is that they were found with brooms, the party’s symbol.
“Three of the 41 ACN supporters, who were arrested and slammed into detention were reported to have died. How can we then not be worried by the safety of our governorship candidate under the circumstances?
“We hope this idea of flying Udoedehe to Uyo, ostensibly to arraign him in court there after the police virtually abducted him right inside a court in Abuja, in a crude and brush manner, is not aimed at subjecting him to the final solution,’’ it said.
The ACN warned that nothing untoward must happen to Udoedehe, and that “since he is now held captive by the police, the force will be held responsible for his safety.”
The party urged Inspector-General of Police Hafiz Ringim to respect the law in handling this delicate issue.
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Udoedehe’s wife: my husband’s life in danger