An Abakaliki Magistrate Court in Ebonyi State has ordered the remand of Mr. Augustine Nwazunku, a former acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi, and three others, over allegations of cultism, forgery, and impersonation.
The accused—Nwazunku, along with Obinna Nwachukwu, Njoku Nwagu, and Ogbonnaya Idika—are facing charges linked to the illegal suspension of Ali Odefa, the PDP South-East National Vice Chairman.
The issue arose after the three co-accused allegedly held a press conference where they introduced themselves as the executives of Ogudu-Okwor Ward in Oshiri, Onicha Local Government. During this press event, they announced the suspension of Odefa from the party, citing various reasons.
However, Odefa, who is from the same ward, dismissed the suspension as fake and claimed that those behind it were not legitimate PDP ward executives. Following this, the police arrested the suspects, including Nwazunku, and presented them in court on Tuesday.
Court documents revealed that Nwachukwu, Nwagu, and Idika were accused of forging a letter that was falsely attributed to the Ogudu-Okwor Ward executives, stating that Odefa had been suspended.
In addition to forgery, the accused are also being charged with membership in the proscribed Vikings Confraternity, a secret cult. These serious accusations led Magistrate Ojemba Isu-Oko to deny their bail request, remanding them in prison until their next court appearance, scheduled for November 18, 2024.
Odefa had earlier petitioned the police regarding the false suspension claims, which resulted in the arrests of the accused. In response to these events, Herbert Ovuta, who claims to be the acting chairman of PDP in Ogudu-Okwor Ward, strongly criticized Odefa’s actions.
In a public statement, Ovuta accused Odefa of orchestrating the arrest and detention of party leaders to create division within the party, benefiting the ruling APC in the state.
He said: “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.”
“We were surprised that barely 10 hours after their abduction, they were dumped at the SWAT detention facility at the police headquarters in 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.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, following the defection of the former Deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi House of Assembly, Odefa Obasi Odefa to APC, 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 executives of the party and were subsequently endorsed by the State Working Committee (of the PDP),” he explained.
Ovuta accused the police of not investigating the matters before charging the PDP chieftains to court “on trumped-up charges.”
“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.
