speaker

Just In: Gunmen abduct Imo ex-speaker, 4 others

Bandits kidnap over 20 women in Zamfara
| anaben

Former Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Lawman Duruji has been kidnapped by gunmen.

Also abducted was the wife of Frank Onwumere, an erstwhile Chairman of Okigwe Local Government Area of the state.

Onwumere’s wife was abducted on Sunday while, according to a source, Duruji was abducted on Saturday while returning from a function.
Ezzybee, a businessman in Owerri, was also kidnapped.

Reports have it that Ezzybee was abducted while going to watch a football match.

The gunmen were also said to have seized an unidentified persons at Okwelle junction in Onuimo Local Government Area, Amaraku in Isiala Mbano L.G.A, as well as Ubomiri in Mbaitoli council area of the state.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Micheal Abattam, confirmed the incident while assuring that the command was on the trail of the kidnappers.

He revealed that the person who was kidnapped at Ubomiri had been rescued by the police.

Two shot dead by soldiers in Ogun Community

Imo lawmaker throws away kola nut after constituents reject him

| anaben

A former Speaker of the Imo state House of Assembly, Mr Chiji Collins representing Isiala Mbano State Constituency has, in anger, thrown away a plate of kola nut after one of his constituent members challenged him (Chiji) on his alleged lack of performance.

The Speaker’s reaction was captured in a video which has gone viral on social media.

It started when a member of the constituent present at the occasion with the speaker, courageously began pinpointing the alleged failures of the lawmaker. He further asked the former speaker to state reasons why he wanted support again when the one given to him for the past years yielded no political dividends.

That statement caused an uproar in the gathering as the speaker stood up and demanded the young man to sit down.

The young man however ignored the order and continued with his interrogation, until the speaker tumbled the table that had the plate of kola nut and other items for refreshment.

It was gathered that the Speaker’s action brought the gathering to a close as the chaos scared people in the vicinity and some persons took cover to avoid an ugly story.

Having been elected in 2019 under the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Chiji became Speaker of the State Assembly after he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, under the administration of former governor Emeka Ihedioha.

In 2020, he defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, when Hope Uzodimma, was pronounced winner of the 2019 gubernatorial election by the Supreme Court. He continued as the Speaker, but was later impeached.

Reacting, Vanguard gathered from one of the loyalists to Chiji, who said his name was Acha, they said the video was edited to blackmail the former speaker and that the young man in the video was unleashing abusive words on the lawmaker and not talking about anything performance.

They said: “The young man in that video was trying to blame Chiji for not speaking out during the time of insecurity in the state the young man is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who was smuggled inside the town hall meeting to cause confusion. They want chiji to get involved in the battle of insecurity in Imo. All they want to confuse is destroy the image of Chiji. So that their own man can become the next Isiala Mbano lawmaker.”

Imo government sent security operatives to humiliate me — Nwosu alleges