The wife of the abducted man is accusing the Governor Umahi of being responsible for the incident.
People suspected to be operatives of the Ebubeagu Security Network have abducted the Labour Party (LP) senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South District.
The victim, Linus Okorie, was abducted Saturday morning while on his way to his residence in Abakaliki.
David Ogbonna, a staffer of the former lawmaker’s foundation, Linus Okorie CaringHeart Foundation, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
Mr Okorie is a former member of the House of Representatives.
He represented Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo Federal Constituency under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 2011 and 2019.
Mr Okorie defected from the PDP to the LP in August to pursue his 2023 senate ambition.
He would be contesting the Senate seat against Dave Umahi, who would be completing his tenure as the Ebonyi State governor next year.
Mr Ogbonna claimed the Ebubeagu operatives went after the LP candidate on the order of a local government chairman in the state.
“The available information confirms that he (Okorie) had been severely tortured to a near-death situation, made naked and pictures of him taken by his abductors,” he said.
He said they have information that the abductors’ “motive is to torture him to death and dump his body at Ebonyi River”.
“We’re believing that his abductors may have kept his half-dead body at Old Government House where the previous actions of the indicted militia group usually take place,” Mr Ogbonna stated.
He said there were reports that the LP candidate’s aides and supporters would be “hunted down, beginning from Monday and made to “face similar situation”.
“We call on the security agencies to swing into action and unravel this situation, get Hon Linus out and alive from his abductors and bring the perpetrators of this evil to face the law,” he added.
The former lawmaker’s wife, Lilian, also announced Mr Okorie’s abduction in a live video on her Facebook page on Sunday.
She claimed that her husband was abducted by members of Ebubeagu Security Network, a South-east security outfit backed by Ebonyi State Government.
Mrs Okorie, who is in the United States for her master’s degree programme, said her husband was not responding to her calls.
She claimed that she was contacted by members of the Ebubeagu operatives informing her they have abducted her husband.
She alleged that the security outfit was commissioned by the state governor, Mr Umahi, to carry out the abduction.
“I was just informed that the governor sent Ebubeagu to come and kidnap my husband, Hon Linus Okorie. He has been kidnaped since last (Saturday) night,” she said, crying.
The Commissioner for Information in the state, Uchenna Orji, and the media aide to Governor Umahi, Francis Nwaze, did not respond to separate calls and text messages seeking their comments on the allegation.
When contacted on Monday for comments on the allegation, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Kenneth Ugbala, said those accusing the governor of being behind the LP candidate’s abduction should write to the government.
“If there is such a thing (allegation), the family should write officially to the Ebonyi State Government through my office,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.
“I can only respond to something I see as SSG. SSG does not respond to social media write-ups,” Mr Ugbala added.
Ebubeagu was set up in 2021 by governors of the five states in the South-east to help in the fight against insecurity in the region, which has witnessed deadly attacks linked to the Biafra agitation by the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra.
The security outfit has been accused of extrajudicial killings in the region.
The police spokesperson in Ebonyi State, Chris Anyanwu, said the police would issue a statement on the incident.
PREMIUM TIMES
