Peter Obi visits family of LP governorship candidate abducted three years ago

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has visited the family of Obiora Agbasimalo, the abducted 2021 LP governorship candidate in Anambra State.

Mr Agbasimalo was abducted on 18 September 2021, less than a month before the governorship election in Anambra State which was held on 6 November 2021.

Charles Soludo, a renowned banker and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, would later win the election.

Mr Soludo, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the exercise, was sworn in as governor on 17 March 2022.

Mr Agbasimalo had resigned from Zenith Bank to join the governorship race in the state, after about 15 years of a successful career in the banking sector.

Missing LP governorship candidate, Obiora Agbasimalo

The LP candidate was abducted at Lilu, a community in Ihiala Local Government Area of the South-east state, while on a campaign tour to Azhia, another community in the council area.

He was abducted alongside one of the police officers attached to his convoy.

Peter Obi’s visit

Eucharia Agbasimalo, wife of the abducted LP candidate, told PREMIUM TIMES Saturday night that Mr Obi visited the family at their residence in Lagos State on 16 June.

“It was a relief. I said finally, somebody for the first time is showing to be human. Before now, it was looking like nobody cared; Obiora is not a human being or his life didn’t matter,” she said, highlighting the significance of Mr Obi’s visit.

She said she told Mr Obi how her husband was abducted in 2021 and the efforts being made to rescue him.

She said the presidential candidate hinted that he was not aware of the incident until around February this year.

She added that Mr Obi sympathised with the family over the incident and promised that he would help them in the matter.

‘How my husband’s abduction caused death of his father’

She told this newspaper that Mr Agbasimalo’s father died in May, nearly three years after the LP candidate was abducted.

She said her father-in-law grew increasingly frustrated with the failure of Nigerian authorities to rescue the abducted LP candidate.

“The man practically died out of frustration. He was just waiting and hoping (that his son would be rescued). Recently, he had just been lamenting about my husband’s abduction. He was so pained that his first son was nowhere to be found,” she said.

“Sometimes, he would call me and ask, ‘what are the police and SSS saying?’ At some points, we would just try to give him hope.”

Initial rescue efforts

As previously reported by PREMIUM TIMES, the leadership of the LP had reportedly prevailed on Mr Agbasimalo’s family not to report his abduction to security agencies or speak to the media, claiming that the abductors had promised to release him after the governorship election.

But when the election was concluded without Mr Agbasimalo’s release, his family petitioned various security agencies, including the police and the State Security Service (SSS).

The petitions to the police and the SSS led to the arrest and arraignment of two suspects: Chukwudi Odimegwu, who was a driver to the abducted politician, and one other suspect, Maxwell Nwokolo.

Messrs Odimegwu and Nwokolo are facing trial at the Anambra State High Court, Nnewi where they pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy and kidnapping.

The SSS is prosecuting the case.

The second suspect, Mr Nwokolo had claimed in October 2021, that he is a member of the Eastern Security Network, the militant wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

IPOB, a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria, is linked to some deadly attacks in the two regions.

Like the leadership of the LP, Mr Nwokolo also reportedly told the distraught wife that her husband was being held in an IPOB camp in the state and that the family should not report the matter to the police or speak to the media, assuring that the victim would be released immediately after the election.

Court hearing

The last time the court sat on the matter was on 26 May 2024 when Godwin Agbasimalo, an uncle and sponsor of the abducted LP candidate, was cross-examined by the defence counsel.

The next court sitting is expected to be in the second week of July, according to sources from the family.

Besides the arraignment of the suspects, a distressed Mrs Agbasimalo had met with and sought help from several influential people in Anambra and beyond, but her husband had still not been found.

Among the people she sought help from, were the senator representing Anambra South District, Ifeanyi Ubah, a chieftain of the LP, Pat Utomi, and Governor Soludo.

Silence, inaction

The investigation and prosecution of Mr Agbasimalo’s abduction appears to be sluggish.

Besides, the leadership of the LP has shown no concern in the matter, with some of their officials reportedly telling the family that they (the party) had exhausted all their efforts.
“Take up the matter. We have done our own part,” the party reportedly told the family.

Similarly, despite video evidence, the then National Organising Secretary of the LP, Clement Ojukwu, denied saying the party was in contact with Mr Agbasimalo’s abductors.

Mr Ojukwu, who was also the chairperson of the LP candidate’s campaign council, is now the party’s deputy national chairperson.

The party’s National Chairperson, Julius Abure, did not respond to several calls and a text message seeking his comment on the matter.

Another governorship election will take in Anambra State next year, 2025.

A member of Mr Agbasimalo’s family, who asked not be named, said they were wondering if the party would have the courage to field another candidate when it had not accounted for the whereabouts of Mr Agbasimalo who was their candidate in 2021.