By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Hon. Wilfred Ezike a.k.a Mgbiligba who was on Tuesday manhandled in Onitsha, Anambra State by the operatives of the Special Anti-Touting Squad on Wednesday said his life was in danger because of a grand conspiracy amongst some government officials to eliminate him

Speaking from his hospital bed in Onitsha, Ezike said the attack on him was as a result of his insistence to be paid a debt of N12 million which he alleged was owed him by a dreaded government official who added, cooked up all manner of falsehoods against him including accusing him of petitioning against them at the House of Assembly and State Criminal Investigation Department respectively.

Narrating his ordeal, Mgbilibga said that the revenue cabals set him up with the Anti-Touting Squad who invited him to OIC Filling Station near Area Command Onitsha and bundled him into their vehicle with knives, guns and all manner of weapons.

According to him, they took him to Upper Iweka in Onitsha where they had about four offices and began to brutally unleash terror on him using pestle until they condemned his two legs on the orders of the dreaded government official who refused to pay him back his N12 million.

He revealed that the viral video of Soludo’s Anti-Touting Squad beating him like a common criminal was made by men of the squad while they heartlessly subjected him to inhumane torture because he requested for his money.

Mgbilibga who is said to be a chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA chieftain who told our correspondent described himself as a reputable politician with a lot of businesses in Onitsha insisted that he was not a tout and had never engaged in touting in his entire life.

He said: “They broke my legs with blood all over my body. I told them to leave me that I didn’t do anything. They refused. They are the ones who made the video of where they brutalized me and sent it online.

“They stripped me naked in their cell and interrogated me on what I do for a living. I told them. I was wearing only a white boxers short while they beat me like a common criminal in their cell with blood all over my body.

“I would have died in their cell, if not for AVG officers who were around that night to help me survive till the next morning because I was bleeding seriously.

“After inflicting serious pains on me, they still forced me to take an oath the next morning that I won’t say anything about my ugly experience with them. I won’t do that because my life is no longer safe. I will continue to tell the world how some government officials used Anti-Touting Squad against me just because I demanded for my money.

People have been calling me from all over the world to sympathize with me because I am not a tout. I have my legitimate businesses and I am also a contractor with the Anambra State Government.

“Even though APGA hasn’t recognized my efforts, I have continued to sacrifice for the party at my own expense. I don’t have any criminal records in my life.

“I am calling on all security agencies especially the Nigeria Police to come to my rescue because some government officials are bent on using the Anti-Touting Squad to terminate my life.

“I am no longer breathing well and I have pains all over my body. I am currently on drip and can barely move my legs.”

Responding, the State Director, Anambra Anti Touting Squad, Hon Solomon Chikwuebuka, made reference to a certain video clip he sent to the WhatsApp of a journalist, saying that the contents of the video is his official response.

The said video showed a young man who identified himself as Ikechukwu Chizoba, an indigene of Enugu State said upon interrogation by men of the Special Anti-Touting Squad that he was collecting N300 from Keke drivers from which he delivers about N9000 to Mgbiligba on a daily basis from touting.

Another video which had a middle aged man confessing that he was touting for Mgbiligba in one of the parks at Onitsha.

The suspect who identified himself in the video as Ifeanyi Ezike a native of Aguluzigbo in Anaocha Local Government Area of the state said he collected N300 from each vehicle at a loading pit and rendered account to Mgbiligba every day.

A viral video which made the rounds on Tuesday showed where Ezike was on the floor and was being manhandled with a short pestle even as he pleaded for mercy and to be given to explain what was not disclosed in the video.

•Wilfred Ezike a.k.a Mgbiligba on hospital bed after his brutalization by Anambra government agents