The controversy trailing Thursday’s clash between the security aides of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and those of Senator Chris Anyanwu along the Owerri-Umuahia highway continued yesterday with exchange of harsh words between the warring parties. While the governor in a statement insisted that Anyanwu’s convoy broke into his with a view to kill him.
The Senator who incidentally is representing the state in the National Assembly and elected on the same political platform, All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) as the governor, accused Okorocha of telling lies by feeding the public with a false account of what happened. She narrated how the governor sat in his car watching his security aides drag out her drivers and security aides from her three car convoy to beat them and break their heads in a naked show of state power.
According to her: “The governor lied. This is one case governor Rochas cannot cover up. And no amount of propaganda can turn the truth on its head. What happened was a simple case of shameful show of power….a governor visiting the governed with brutality for absolutely no reason. “My three cars were ahead of the governor. There was no indication the governor was approaching. No flags, no advance outriders. There was a hyundai bus with tinted glasses , a number of small cars and open hilux with many uniformed men. Being ahead of them on the busy Owerri- Umuahia road, it was difficult to know who was coming until the hilux passed us.
We then immediately cleared the road and stopped for them to pass. But instead of passing, five vehicles completely surrounded our three cars. Over thirty men from all sides descended on us. “First they tried to force open my car. My driver locked it. Then they went to my advance car and back up cars. Pulled out the drivers, plummeted one and pushed him into the gutter. The other one they dragged into the bush. Ten men descended on him., gashed his head and continued to pound him until I ran out of my car barefooted pleading “ don’t kill him. He is my driver. I am Senator Anyanwu. One non-uniformed man turned on me, cocked his gun at me and said he would blow me away if I didn’t back off.” She further accused the governor of ordering his security aides to disarm her own security aide. “Governor Rochas had ordered his men to disarm my police security.