An All Progressives Grand Alliance supporter in Ebonyi State, Amobi Ujar, was on Saturday arrested and allegedly beaten to a pulp by members of the state’s security outfit, Ebubeagu.
Ujar was accused of destroying the campaign materials of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking on the reports of brutalization, Mr. Friday Nnanna-Ujor, the State Commander of the security outfit, said Ujar was not framed-up by his officers,
He said that the suspect was arrested at Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi, carrying out the dastardly act.
He said: “Don’t call it an attack, because an attack is war-like. But, the truth of the matter is that the suspect, who is an APGA supporter in Afikpo North, was caught vandalizing campaign banners and destroying billboards of APC candidates and so, my men arrested him.
“Nobody is framing anybody up as far as the issue of campaign billboards is concerned in Ebonyi, people will destroy campaign materials in the state and allege that APC members are responsible.
“Even in meetings, Gov. Dave Umahi has severally said that nobody should touch any campaign materials of any candidate despite party affiliations and so, we strictly keep to that instruction. And, even in this state, we have severally caught PDP members tearing billboards of PDP candidates.
“This is just to let you know that we are non-partisan and that we do our job without being biased; so, the boy was arrested for committing a crime.
“He was not framed up: he was not forced to confess, he was not attacked, he was arrested for committing a crime.
“Once we are done with our preliminary investigation, we will hand him over to the police for further investigation and arraignment in court for prosecution.”
Meanwhile, a relative of the suspect, who spoke to newsmen, said that Ujar received a phone call from an Ebubeagu informant who lured him to the ‘Why to Worry’ area of Amaehara village, in the Afikpo North.
The relative claimed that Ujar was beaten to a coma by operatives of the outfit, who hung the campaign banner of Umahi on his neck and forced him to make a ‘confessional statement’ against himself and his party, APGA.
The source said the victim, being an auto-technician, felt he was called to ‘Why to Worry’ to fix a faulty vehicle for some holidaymakers not knowing that he was lured out to be brutalised.
“Ujar is just a victim of circumstance. He was in his house when someone called him and asked him to come to ‘Why Worry’ and all of a sudden, the Ebebeagu people bounced on him and started beating him.
“If not for the presence of passersby, maybe they could have even killed him.
“He was beaten and forced to say he was working for the APGA to pull down all the campaign materials of APC candidates, in the area.
“But, we know these are all lies. He didn’t do anything. Some sponsored APC agents are the ones pulling down campaign materials of other opposition politicians in the area and the entire state,” the source claimed.
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