There is disquiet in Abia over an allegation of a purported threat to the life of President Muhammadu Buhari. The allegation was made by a chieftain of the federal-ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Nwabueze Onwuneme, a former Special Adviser on Housing to immediate past Abia Governor, incumbent Senator TA Orji.

Onwuneme was reported in a national daily to have accused the Leader of Abia State House of Assembly, Hon Chinedum Orji, of threatening his life and those of his family members. He further alleged that Hon Orji had warned that President Buhari would regret it if he hounoured the invitation to attend the planned mega rally by Abia APC. Incidentally, Hon Chinedum Orji is the first son of Senator TA Orji, the erstwhile boss of Mr. Onwuneme.

Reporting on the dust raised by the allegation, THISDAY said this morning that Chinedu in a petition to the Inspector General of police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, dated 21 December 2017, reminded the IGP that any plan to kill the President of Nigeria is a highly treasonable offence which should be investigated.

He argued that Onwuneme should be in possession of “some vital information on his alleged plot to kill Mr. President which my client is not privy to and which should be of immense interest to our responsible security agencies,” THISDAY reported.

“Mr. Nwabueze Onwuneme’s aim of publishing the defamatory and seditious words targets at misleading, misinforming and instigating the security and law enforcement agents to haunt, torment, intimidate and dehumanise my client in every imaginable way in order to execute a misplaced vendetta,” the paper further said, quoting part of the petition.

It also quoted Chinedu’s counsel, Mr. Eze Chikamnayo, as lamenting that the “wild allegations” by Onwuneme had already inflicted “immense injury to Hon Orji’s pride, and hard earned reputation and as a result he has been exposed to ridicule, contempt and risk of invasion by the security agencies”.

The paper equally reported that security agencies have been called upon to launch investigation into the allegation. It said that at a press conference in Umuahia yesterday a group known as Abia Interest Group (AIG) frowned at the “wild and malicious allegations”, saying that it must not be swept under the carpet in order to teach other rabble rousers a lesson.

“We of Abia interest group unequivocally demand the immediate arrest of Mr. Nwabueze Onwuneme, the purveyor of this false alarm and a thorough investigation of his sanity and statements, painstakingly concluded,” the paper further quoted AIG as saying during the press conference.

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