Blogger Allege Gov Okorocha Plans To Frame Him For Kidnap

Ezenekwe in a statement made available to journalists in Awka, Anambra State said the governor was planning the frame him through a commissioner in his cabinet.

The publisher of an online medium, 247ureports.com, Mr. Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, on Monday alleged that the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, was planning to frame him for kidnap.

But reacting via the telephone, the Chief Press Secretary to the Imo State governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, dismissed the story as the handiwork of blackmailers.

He said “I don’t know the person you were talking about and he’s claiming that my governor wants to set him up. Who is he and why should Governor Okorocha want to set him up? He is one of these blackmailers. We don’t know him.”

Ezenekwe had alleged that Okorocha’s commissioner had called him on the telephone to come to Owerri to pick up a “fat brown envelope”, which had Ezenekwe’s phone number on it.

He said “I don’t know anything about the envelope and the commissioner knew it didn’t belong to me.  I have not been in Owerri recently, but the commissioner has insisted that the envelope, purported to belong to me, was picked up at a burial ceremony in Owerri.”

He said shortly after his telephone conversation with the commissioner, the Department of State Services invited him to Owerri for interrogation.

He said he gathered that his invitation by the DSS was a decoy by Okorocha to confront him with a phantom charge of kidnapping.

 He stated the suspicion made him not to honour the DSS invitation, adding that   he had dragged the secret service before an Owerri High Court on fundamental rights matter.

His statement read in part, “At about 3pm on Monday, March 20, 2017, I received a call. The person introduced himself as Ugochukwu from SSS. He then said the Director of SSS in Owerri wanted to see me.

“I then asked him to make a formal invitation. He responded that I should not make this difficult. I switched off the phone immediately and stopped answering his calls. I am not sure why the Owerri DSS would be inviting my person. I do not reside in Imo State.

He added, “Of recent, 247ureports.com had published reports critical of the Imo State Government, particularly against the excesses of the office of the first Lady of Imo State.

“We had also published critical reports against the APC government in Owerri over its mistreatment of Biafra activists. 

“I have been reliably informed that Okorocha administration has mandated the DSS to set me up with a serious offence.”

He added, “Days ago, a certain Commissioner Njoku from Imo state called me to say that there was an envelope with money that had my number written on it. She also said that our report on the first lady of Imo State was causing ripples within the administrative quarters; that I should remove it from the site.

“She said she was calling to find out if I misplaced the envelope; that the envelope was found at a burial ceremony. I told her that I don’t know what she was talking about. That I never attended any burial and she should please stop calling my number. Weeks later, the DSS called with an invitation.”