The Labour Party candidate in Owerri Municipal in the March 18 Imo State House of Assembly elections, Clinton Amadi, has been arrested.
Amadi, who was a lawmaker at the state House of Assembly between 2007 and 2011 was arrested on Monday at the state secretariat of the Independent National Electoral Commission located at Port Harcourt Road in Owerri, the state capital.
A journalist, Joshua Chibuzom, confirmed to journalists in Owerri, on Tuesday that the LP candidate was arrested when he went to obtain the Certified Through Copies of electoral materials.
He said that the operatives of the Tiger Base of the police command arrested Amadi and he remained in police custody till Tuesday.
Chibuzom said ” Amadi was arrested yesterday( Monday) at the INEC Office in Owerri as he went to obtain certified copy of INEC results to prosecute his matter in tribunal. He is currently in Tiger Base unit.”
Confirming the arrest of the politician, the 27 lawmakers of the LP in the just held house of Assembly elections in the state in statement demanded for the immediate release of Amadi.
The statement which was issued by Precious Nwadike, Nnaemeka Obiaraeri, and Charles Ogu and 24 others said that the All Progressives Congress were using the police to stop them from getting the INEC CTC results to fill their petitions.
The statement read “our attention has been drawn to the abduction of one of us,Hon Clinton Amadi,the Labour Party candidate for Owerri Municipal by those suspected to be goons and police men attached to a certain government official.
“It is worthy of note that till this morning, nobody knows the whereabouts of Amadi. Efforts to reach him proved abortive as his phone lines were switched off.
“It would be recalled that Hon. Clinton Amadi, a former lawmaker in Imo state was at the Imo state INEC office located along Port Harcourt Road, yesterday April 4, 2023 to obtain the Certified True Copies (CTC) of results used for his election which was massively rigged in favour of the APC candidate.
“We had last week told the world of the desperation of the APC government in Imo state which has manifested itself in their relentless effort at frustrating every attempt made by our colleagues to inspect and have the CTCs of results of the election.
“As the body of LP candidates in Imo state, committed to the recovery of the mandate freely given to us by Imo people, we are unaware of any offence committed by Hon Clinton Amadi beside his resolve to seek redress in court over the broad daylight robbery of his mandate.
“It has also come to our knowledge, the wicked plot by agents of APC to arrest and detain more of LP candidates and keep them out of circulation until the date for filing of such suits as provided by the new Electoral Act expires.
“We therefore call for Hon Amadi’s immediate release while also urging the Imo State Police command to investigate the activities of some government appointees who illegally work around the streets of Owerri with detachment of armed policemen with which they intimidate and harass the people.”
The Police spokesperson, Henry Okoyo, said that he had yet to be briefed on the development.
