From Mba Nnenna- Abakaliki
Ebonyi former Commissioner of Information and Deputy National President, NUJ, Abia Onyike have been abducted by Ebubeagu Operatives in the state.
Onyike was on Wednesday abducted at Octovia Pharmacy, Water Works Road, Abakaliki, while purchasing drugs for his medication.
While in the pharmaceutical store, two armed men suspected to be Ebubeagu personnel walked in, bundled him into a Sienna bus, and speed off.
The victim, a key spokesperson for PDP Governorship candidate in the 2023 general election, Ebonyi State, Dr Ifeanyi Odii, was reportedly taken to Ebubeagu Office in Abakaliki, where he was ordered to remove his clothes and brutally beaten up, until a call came for his release.
Reacting, the Ebubeagu Commander in the state, Friday Nnanna, said Onyike’s arrest was mistakenly done as he was arrested in the location where a suspect was being trailed.
According to him, “Immediately after his name, place of origin and personality was ascertained, he was released.
“The place they said Abia was caught was where a criminal element we have been looking for, usually stay. Oga, we have satellite everywhere, that’s where the suspect usually come to collect arms and ammunition and rifles kept for him. He normally comes from outside the State.
“You can ask the victim what we did immediately he was asked his name, and where he came from; We ordered them to leave him immediately. People have been putting surveillance where he was arrested., Nnanna added.”
Narrating his ordeal, Onyike said he was given over 30 slaps, stripped naked and made to lie on the floor, while planks and other weapons were used on him by the operatives.
He said, “As I talk to you now, I can’t hear well with one of my ears. I was slapped over 30 times. They asked me to lay down naked and beat me up severally with different dangerous objects.
“They even threatened to shoot me and bury me there. I can’t hear well again.
“They tortured me for over one hour, until some minutes to 11pm when one of them came and said I should be released, that it was a mistaken identity.
