By Izunna Okafor, Awka
There is currently a brewing tension in Anambra State, as yet-to-be-identified gunmen kidnapped another politician and lawmaker in the state on his way returning home to celebrate the Yuletide with his people.
The lawmaker, Hon. Justice Azuka, representing Onitsha North Constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, was kidnapped on the eve of Christmas along the Ugwunapampa Road in Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Sources have it that the lawmaker, who is of the Labour Party, just recently regained his mandate as a lawmaker after the court recently affirmed him as the winner of the 2023 election in the constituency, as against his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) opponent, Douglas Egbuna, who was initially declared winner by INEC.
Although, information about the incident is still sketchy, it was gathered that the abductors are yet to make any contact to the family of the lawmaker since his abduction, while his phone number has not been connecting.
In his reaction, the Spokesperson of the Anambra State Police Command, SP Ikenga Tochukwu, confirmed the abduction, and further noted that the Command was already making efforts to secure his release and also apprehend the abductors.
“The Anambra Police Command has activated operational plans for the possible rescue and arrest of the kidnappers.
“We are working on some clues and will communicate further developments,” the Police Public Relations Officer said on Wednesday.
It would be recalled that another lawmaker in the state who represented the Aguata Constituency I in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Okechukwu Okoye (popularly known as Okey Dị Okay) was similary abducted by unidentified gunmen on May 21 2022. The Lawmaker’s head was, however, later found where it was mounted somewhere in Amichi, by the gunmen who beheaded him six days after his abduction.
The lawmaker was killed alongside his aide, Cyril Chiegboka, who was abducted together with him along Aguluzigbo Road in Anaocha Local Government Area of the State.
