Ebonyi indigenes fault cultism claims against Anyim, Egwu

The Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in the Diaspora (AESID) has outrightly condemned accusation levelled against former Senate President Pius Anyim and erstwhile governor of the state, Sam Egwu, over their alleged involvement in cultism in the state.

AESID’s President, Ambassador Paschal Oluchukwu, claimed that Anyim and Egwu were being accused, threatened, harassed and intimidated since the formal defection of Governor David Nweze Umahi from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) last week.

The group, therefore, enjoined President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the APC to call Umahi, believed to be the mastermind of the accusation, to order so as to avoid crisis in the state.

The group, in a statement, also cautioned that the heads of security agencies in the state should not allow themselves or their men to be used by Umahi to cause mayhem in the guise of working to unravel the truth surrounding their involvement.

“This group is sincerely outraged by the media-publicised latest accusation coming from the Chief Security Officer of the state, Umahi, wherein he copiously alleged that the former Senate President, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim and the first Executive Governor of the State, Sen. Sam Egwu alongside other elders in the state were engaging cultists and some IPOB members to start killing and causing crisis in Ebonyi State in the name of fighting Ebonyi State government and the governor.

“The spurious alarms being raised by the governor should therefore be seen as a preparatory ground for perhaps, his future plans to destabilise Ebonyi State and this is why we urge the Federal Government and all its organs and mechanisms to call Governor Umahi to order, having been lucky to have got the massive support of the masses twice, especially through the help and assistance of the men he has publicly vowed to fight, he shouldn’t leave a legacy of violence and crisis that could lead to loss of lives or spillage of the blood of any Ebonyian,” the group said, among others.

The group said it was surprised that even as the Chief Security Officer, Umahi could make “such unsubstantiated, reckless, unfounded and unguarded statements in the media against the elders and stakeholders just to curry public empathy and obviously set up his aides in particular and unsuspecting members of the public in general against the elders and leaders in Ebonyi, adding: “AESID is also aware of the threats being faced by former Publicity Secretary of the APC that recently defected to the PDP, Mr. Nwoba Chika Nwoba, who is currently facing allegations of receiving and selling a Sienna car as gift from the Umahi government. The narrative suggests that the government tried to use the said Greek gift to bribe and therefore silence the young critic of Umahi’s administration. We ask security agencies to protect him also as he has the right to freedom not only of association but to also hold his own opinions on issues of governance.”