I Was Accused Of Plotting To Kill Deputy Governor – Abia Deputy Chief Of Staff

Abia State Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS), Chief Charles Ogbonnaya, has admitted being detained  at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Umuahia, on allegations of plotting to kill the Deputy Governor, Comrade Chris Akomas. 

The DCOS who was reacting to media reports that he was detained for two days by the Deputy Governor himself while his release was secured by the Governor, Chief Theodore Orji,  said a team of Police officers from the office of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ogbonna Onovo, came to Umuahia and took him to the SCID where they interrogated on the allegation that he was plotting to kill the Deputy Governor.

According to him, the Security Officer to the Deputy Governor had fired a petition to the IG, alleging that he (Ogbonnaya) and others government functionaries were plotting to kill the Deputy Governor, adding that the Police had asked him that he wanted to kill the Deputy Governor because the Deputy Governor want to run for governorship election.

Briefing newsmen in Government House, Umuahia Friday, Ogbonnaya said:

“I was embarrassed to read that I was detained. The Deputy Governor himself was embarrassed.

“The truth is that I was detained at the SCID by a team of Police officers from the IG’s office. The Security officer to the Deputy Governor alleged that I and others were planning to eliminate the Deputy Governor. He made the statement to the officers from Abuja .

“I was detained for five hours. The security officers alleged that I went to Nenu with a squad to kill the Deputy Governor but when I did not succeed I came back to Umuahia to reduce his (Deputy Governor’s) security personnel.”

Ogbonnaya explained that in January, he had organized a party for the staff of the office of the Deputy Governor and expressed his appreciation to them. He said he also used the forum to convey to them that the staff strength of the Deputy Governor’s office would be scaled down to cut down on overhead spending.

He said he told the staff that the proposed downsizing would affect drivers and security personnel. According to him, 53 Policemen were working in the office of the Deputy Governor and that N2 million is spent on them weekly as allowance.

On his encounter with Police, Ogbonnaya said they asked him that he wanted to kill the Deputy Governor because he (Deputy Governor) wants to contest governorship election.

“I told them that that was not to my knowledge and if he (Deputy Governor) had asked me I will tell him that he was not qualified, not academically, but by the Abia Zoning arrangement,” he said  was his response.

He said the Policemen were bent on taking him to Abuja but for the intervention of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security, Chief Ukpai Agwu Ukpai, who secured his release. He said he has been reporting to Abuja in connection with the matter.

Asked if he discussed the proposed staff pruning with the Deputy Governor, Ogbonnaya said “I am the Chief accounting officer in that office and I do know the difficulties we are facing in paying allowances.”

The DCOS said his annoyance stems from the denial by the Deputy Governor that he was unaware that the Security Officer implicated him. Explaining further, Ogbonnaya said that the Security Officer, in his petition, did mention him by name but alleged that certain government officials were planning to kill the Deputy Governor.

However, in his statement to the Police officers from Abuja , according to Ogbonnaya,  the Security officer specifically mentioned him (Ogbonnaya) and one Ogbonnaya Obike as being behind the plot to kill the Deputy Governor,.

Sources close to Government House hinted that all has not been well between the Governor and his Deputy and there has been serious efforts to paper the cracks and conceal their quarrel from the public . The sources claimed that the bone of contention is the 2011 governorship contest.

Just last week, the governor who was in Lagos vigorously denied any rift with his deputy, insisting that their relationship was most cordial. When Abia hosted National Cocoa Day last year, Orji had described his Deputy as the “most loyal Deputy Governor in Nigeria “ when the Cocoa Committee paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House.

However, none of them has made any comment publicly on the development narrated by the DCOS.