Afikpo Chic: Police threaten ex-lawmaker over Ogah’s petition
Police have ordered former Ebonyi State lawmaker Honourable Maria Ude Nwachi to report to their Abuja headquarters on Monday or be arrested.
Ude is popularly referred to as “Afikpo Chic” by admirers.
The order, The Realm News gathered, came as a result of a petition written on behalf of the Minister of State, Mines and Steel, Dr Uchechukwu Ogah.
The petition was in connection with a publication by one Okorie Kalu published on Igboist — an online social group platform reportedly owned by Ude.
Its headline reads: “I can never attend a meeting chaired by an ex-convict — Ogah blows hot”.
Ogah, in a letter through his solicitors Chief Agbai and Co, dated August 13, 2020, to Ude, referred to the said publication as “false and untrue, defamatory and libellous.”
He also demanded the immediate retraction of the publication within seven days to avoid “civil and criminal prosecutions.”
Letter by Ogah's solicitors. Swipe to browse.
Ude, however, said she called Ogah to plead her innocence as well as resolve issues with him when she heard of the publication and also received his letter.
“I thought we had resolved the issue until I got a call from the police in September directing me to report over a petition by Dr Ogah,” she told The Realm News via the phone on Sunday.
The former lawmaker said she informed Ogah of the development and he promised to intervene.
But “he never did as the latest call and threat of a forceful arrest by police on Sunday proved,” she said.
Udeh wondered why she should answer to a publication she said she knew nothing about and expressed her disappointment in the minister for dragging her to the police in disregard of their relationship.
Photos: Ude, who is from Afikpo in Ebonyi State, is popularly known as “Afikpo Chic”
“In my wildest imagination, I never believed that a man I laboured to manage and whose image I protected could take these extreme steps against me,” Ude said.
We could not reach the police or Ogah for comments as at the time of filing this report.
But a letter of invitation by the police dated September 3, 2020, and signed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) DCP Olaolu Adegbite for the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Intelligence Bureau (FIB) Abuja, made available to us, confirmed the incident.
Since his appointment in 2019, Ogah, according to reports, has shown zero-tolerance to criticisms and unfriendly publications against his person.
He, critics say, has consistently petitioned the police and instigated the arrests of several individuals who dared to question him.
All these unscrupulous allegations hold no force at all in the face of a name maintained in good reputation. The Hon. Minister – Dr. USO has got no time for such. You all given to this despicable acts of derogatory write-ups only end up hurting yourselves. Abia State must experience the change it deserves as Dr. Uche Ogah becomes the Governor come 2023. So, device another measure in your stupidity that’ll soon consume you. This is already too stale a measure!👌