The Ebonyi State Chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the state government are in a battle of words over the alleged fake military and police invasions in the state ahead of next Saturday’s governorship election.

APGA, in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity Campaign Organization, Charles Otu, alleged that there is an unusual presence of some uniformed Police and Military officers in the streets of major cities and opposition strongholds in the state.

The party further alleged that the people of the state woke up on the eve of the rescheduled election to see the unusual presence and activities of some military officers whom it suspects to be ‘fake security personnel’ mounting illegal checkpoints; before the new Airport flyover, and Onueke Urban both in Ezza South Local Government Area of the state, some strategic junctions in Ikwo, Ikwo LGA, Timber shed junction in Afikpo North LGA and some parts of Ohaozara LGA in the Southern part of the state.

The statement reads, “Road users in these areas which are our Party’s key strongholds can attest to the fact that the ‘military officers’ carry out stop and search operations, ordering passengers out of their vehicles and harassing, intimidating and bullying innocent transporters in manners most seemingly unprofessional for truly trained officers of the Nigerian Military.

“Apart from their shabby manners of dressings and looks, we also observed that some of the ‘military officers’ have no name tags on their uniforms and they are without the usual military patrol vans stationed anywhere around their vicinities of operations. In fact, some of them are conveyed in unmarked Sienna buses parked within some of the aforementioned areas of operations.

“Similarly, there has also been an unusual presence of some Police officers in Abakaliki town and some other parts of the State who we equally suspect to be ‘fake officers’ mounting checkpoints and carrying out stop and search operations.

“We have been reliably informed that they are hoodlums imported by the Umahi’s APC-led government in Ebonyi in connivance with some top security brass from Kogi, Rivers and even neighbouring Cross River State and that they are perfectly blended with some members of the disbanded Ebubeagu Security Network who are arming them with information on those in the government’s ‘wanted list’ for abduction, torture and possible prosecution on trumped up charges to be released after next Saturday’s Governorship and State’s Houses of Assembly elections in the State.

“A glaring pointer to this fact is the abduction of Prince Chukwuma Okorie, an ardent supporter of APGA at Okposi Okwu on the 8th of March by the suspected fake officers who later handed him over to the Police at Obiozara, Ohaozara and later moved to the State Police Command where they plan to charge him to Court soon on trumped up charges.

“A similar confirmation of these fears is the credible information we gathered that virtually all the Local Government Chairmen in the State imported hoodlums from various parts of the country to cause havoc within their localities.

“We call on the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Lucky Irabor to immediately direct the General Officer, Commanding 82 Division, Enugu to investigate these serious allegations, arrest and charge these impersonators for the serious crimes against innocent Ebonyi civilians. The probe must be holistic and impartial.

“We further call on the Inspector General of Police, the Director General, State Security Services and the National Security Adviser, NSA to order an immediate investigation into these allegations as the State has never witnessed this level of militarization, not even during the military regime.

“They should also order the immediate retrieval of the arms and ammunition still in possession of the armed but now disbanded Ebubeagu Security Network who are still using their weapons to terrorize innocent Ebonyians, now acting in cahoot with these alleged fake security operatives," the party said.

Reacting to the APGA claims, Special Assistant to Governor Dave Umahi on Media and Strategy, Chief Chooks Oko described the allegations as senseless.

“Is it surprising to anyone that such senseless allegations are coming from APGA? It goes a long way to show the quality of leadership that they are made of. If you suspect a soldier is fake and you know which point he is, what stops you from informing the police or the army hierarchy to arrest such “fake” personnel?

“They are so daft that they could not distinguish between beefed-up security and their hallucinatory fake soldiers. All these cries of imaginary happenings are their way of preparing for the massive failure and untold rejection awaiting them at the polls.

“This their latest prank exposes the fact that all they have been feeding Ebonyians are crap concocted to elicit undeserved sympathy. They are to be disregarded as serial bad losers which they are preparing so hard to be," he stated. (New Telegraph)

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