Imo petitions Presidency over soldiers’ alleged invasion of Govt House

• Minister insists widows were beaten up

• Shehu Garba alleges police siege to house

FOLLOWING the crisis in Owerri on Tuesday, when protesting widows were flogged and manhandled by some hoodlums alleged to be state agents, and the subsequent alleged presence of soldiers at the entrance of Government House, the Imo State Government has petitioned the Presidency, accusing the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, of responsibility.

   According to a statement by the Governor’s Seniour Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, which was made available to The Guardian, the petition was at the instance of the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.

   Widows had carried placards protesting against Governor Rochas Okorocha over his allegation that Onwuliri masterminded the death of her husband in 2012.

   The Imo Government’s petition, which was directed to the Presidency, Army Headquarters, National Security Adviser and human rights groups, alleged that armed soldiers “invaded the Government House and barricaded its main entrance with armoured vehicles for the whole day on the order of the Junior Minister for Education, Prof. Viola Onwuliri.

   It further alleged that Onwuliri informed her audience that she acted on the order from the Presidency. Therefore, the petition wants the circumstances leading to the military’s “invasion” investigated.

   Similarly, the Directorate of Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation has alleged a police siege at the residence of a member of the group, Mr. Garba Shehu, at the NNPC Quarters, Area 11, Garki.

   In a statement to The Guardian yesterday, Shehu said that he and his family members “were woken from sleep by the noises from a swarm of strangers and the clattering sounds as they cocked their guns.”

   According to him, “looking from the window, I saw no less than 15 policemen bearing weapons, some in complete uniform and others not fully dressed. It was not in doubt that our Block S.A. 12, was under a cordon. 

   “Two police cars blocked the incoming lane from the gate just by our block, and two others faced it, blocking the exit way. A big white van with heavily tinted glasses was parked between blocks 12 and 14, which faced each other.”

   He said the men, who stayed up till an hour, did not climb up to his apartment, nor did he open the door, thereby missing the morning prayer, and that sooner, the siege was been reported in the social media.

   He added: “Since the end of the stand-off, I have been in communication with the DSS and the police at the highest levels,” both of which “denied knowledge of the operation at the beginning.”

   However, the Police Inspector-General, after investigations, told him that “policemen were there following an emergency call by a neighbour who came under robbery attack. The telephone number of the distressed neighbour was given to me and his address as Block S.A. 13.” 

   The government said the petition became necessary because soldiers would not have left their barracks with armoured vehicles to the Government House without an order, noting that there was no problem, clash, riot or crisis in any part of the state on the said day or even before.