December 28, (THEWILL) – A former governorship candidate in Imo State, Uche Nwosu, on Monday told newsmen how he was ‘abducted’ from a church service by armed security men who disrupted the outing service in honour of his late mother, Jamaimah Nwosu, at the St. Peter’s Anglican Church Eziama-Obaire in Nkwerre local government area of Imo State on Sunday.
He said the assailants were security men attached to the Imo State Government House supervised by one Shafa.
THEWILL had reported that Nwosu was whisked away during the church service by security men in a gestapo style that was mistaken to be a kidnap incident.
In a viral video, clergymen and worshipers including women and children were seen scampering for safety while the armed men were shooting sporadically for several minutes before whisking Nwosu away in the trunk of one of the waiting vehicles.
Briefing selected journalists in Abuja on Monday after his release from detention, Nwosu said the invasion of the church and his subsequent harassment was uncalled for as there was no prior invitation by the Police or any other security agency extended to him.
Giving graphic details of the incident, Nwosu narrated that, “while the service was still going on, some heavily armed security men invaded the church from different doors, while some went straight to the altar, others were walking from one line of pew to the other.
“When they spotted me, they opened fire and started shooting inside the church. Some of them walked up to me and said I should get up and follow them or they would blow my head off. I demanded to know who they were and where they were taking me, they started dragging me, all this while they were still shooting and everyone in the church was scampering for safety.
“It was like a war, they kept shooting inside the Church and everybody was running in different directions. It was just an act of God that stray bullets didn’t hit any of the clergymen because they were firing straight at the altar where most of them were seated.
“After they dragged me from the church into the car, they drove off. When we got to Owerri, three of the cars drove into the Government House and they drove me in one of the cars to Enugu.
“On the way, they stopped after one of them answered a phone call and said Shafa, who is the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the governor, asked them to get my pictures, they tore my clothes and took my pictures with handcuffs and sent them to the CSO.
“After that they drove me straight to Enugu Airport, where a chartered private jet was waiting and they flew me straight to Abuja. It was purely planned and hatched at the Imo Government House.
“I was not invited by the Police or any other security agency before my abduction at the Church.”
Nwosu commended the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, for his professionalism in handling the matter and the Church for standing by him and the family.
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