Court remands ex-PDP chairperson, others over ‘suspension’ of party’s national officer

A Magistrate Court in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, has remanded a former acting state chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Augustine Nwazunku, and three others in prison custody for alleged cultism, forgery and impersonation.

Mr Nwazunku and others – Obinna Nwachukwu, Njoku Nwagu, and Ogbonnaya Idika – allegedly engaged in the illegal suspension of the South-east National Vice Chairperson of the PDP, Ali Odefa, from the party.

Three of the accused held a press conference last week at which they announced themselves as executives of Ogudu-Okwor Ward in Oshiri.

Mr Odefa, who hails from the ward, said the alleged suspension was null and void as the people who issued it were not PDP ward executives.

The three were later arrested alongside Mr Nwazunku during the week and charged to court on Tuesday.

According to court records, Nwachukwu, Nwagwu, and Idika were accused of forging a letter which they said was from the PDP executives of Ogudu-Okwor Ward in Oshiri, claiming that the party had suspended the PDP South-east National Vice Chairperson, Mr Odefa.

The suspects are also accused of being members of a proscribed secret cult group known as the Vikings Confraternity.

The Magistrate, Ojemba Isu-Oko refused to grant the four suspects bail and ordered their remand in prison until 18 November.

PDP reacts

The executive members of the PDP in Mr Odefa’s ward last week reportedly suspended the PDP South-east national vice chairperson for alleged anti-party activities.

But Mr Odefa dismissed the suspension as null and void and reportedly petitioned the police, who arrested some of the leaders of the party in the ward.

Herbert Ovuta, who claimed to be the acting chairperson of the PDP in the Ogudu-Okwor Ward, is accusing Mr Odefa of hounding the party chieftains.

“This is to alert the public and especially members and the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party, that Mr Ali Odefa, the National Vice Chairman of the PDP, on Monday, 7 September 2024, at about 8 p.m., in the company of yet to be identified thugs and people decked in unverified uniforms in five Hilux Vans invaded the compounds of some of our party members in Oshiri Community and abducted them to an unknown destination,” Mr Ovuta said in a statement.

“The invaders led by Mr Ali Odefa cordoned off the compounds of Messrs Obinna Nwachukwu (Acting Youth Leader of PDP, Ogudu Okwor Ward) and Njoku Nwagu (Secretary of PDP, Ogudu Okwor Ward), whereby they were forcefully taken away in the presence of their distraught family members.”

Mr Ovuta said the team moved to Abakaliki where they picked up Mr Idika, whom he said is the acting organising secretary of the PDP in Ogudu Okwor Ward.

“We were surprised that barely 10 hours after their abduction, they were dumped at the SWAT detention facility at the Police headquarters Abakaliki.

“When information reached us, and we rushed to the police headquarters, we were confronted with badly tortured, battered people with swollen faces.

“Within minutes, we were told that police were charging them for cultism, threatening of Ali Odefa, forgery and impersonation.”

‘Unlawful, oppressive’

Mr Ovuta, who said Mr Odefa’s action was unlawful and oppressive, debunked the claim that he and others were not ward executives and authentic leaders of the PDP in the ward.

“For the avoidance of doubt, following the defection of the former Deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi House of Assembly, Odefa Obasi Odefa, alongside some members of the PDP Ogudu Okwor Ward Executives, the party stakeholders met and nominated their replacement.

“These replacements were ratified by the Onicha LGA Executive of the party and were subsequently endorsed by the State Working Committee (of the PDP),” he explained.

Mr Ovuta accused the police of not investigating the matters before charging the PDP chieftains to court “on trumped-up charges”.

He accused Mr Odefa of plotting the arrest as part of his efforts to ensure that the PDP in Ebonyi State remains in disarray to the convenience of the ruling APC in the state.

“We, therefore, use this medium to alert the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, that some of his officers and men in Ebonyi State Command may have been compromised against members of our party to divert the cause of justice,” he said.