Ebonyi Attack: Igboayaka, OYC President Has Questions To Answer – Gov Nwifuru

By Suleiman Anyalewechi.

The Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, on Tuesday strongly distanced himself from the arrest and detention of the President of Ohaneze Youth Council, OYC, Igboayaka O Igboayaka.

The OYC leader was  declared abducted by  gunmen in Owerri by his   fellow Youth Council Members shortly after their Convention on Saturday, February 8, 2025.

However, the Ebonyi State Police Command, on Monday, February 10, took responsibility for the whereabouts of the OYC President.

In a statement from its spokesperson, Joshua Ukandu SP, the Police Command, informed that Igboayaka was arrested on the strength of a petition filed against him in connection with some inflammatory and incendiary  statements regarding the dastardly invasion of Amegu Nkalaha community by gunmen.

The attack led to the death of 16 people. Several others were injured. Many houses were also razed .

According to the Police ,the youth leader is in custody, and will be arraigned, as soon as investigations are concluded.

Social media reports, however had tended to domicile the travails of Igboayaka at the door steps of the Ebonyi state Government.

Speculations are rife that his arrest and subsequent detention, were directed by the Ebonyi State Governor .

But in a statement issued by Monday Uzor; his Media Aide, on Tuesday,Governor Nwifuru described the attempt to link him with the arrest of the youth leader as diversionary and misleading.

This is even as he vowed to ensure that such heinous crime against the people does reoccur.

“In a period when Ebonyians are trying to be psychologically  detached, enemies of the State, masquerading as online merchants and social media contractors, have  again thrown caution to the wind by alleging Governor Nwifuru’s involvement in the arrest of Igboayaka, the factional helmsman of the Ohaneze Youth Council, all in an attempt to distract concentration and temporarily halt the supersonic transformation of the State by the Governor.

“What the social media assassins have failed to understand is that the same Igboayaka claimed responsibility for the attack by stating publicly that he knew when the attack was conceived and hatched, a reason he claimed to have, four days earlier

“Intelligence at our disposal does not, in any way, show that Igboayaka works with the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, NIA, or the Department of State Services, DSS, to be armed with such intelligence that threatens internal security .

“Rather, Igboayaka is a social deviant running a factional arm of the apex Igbo socio-cultural body, Ohaneze Ndigbo.

“Let me categorically state that Governor Nwifuru has no hand in the arrest or police action against Comrade Igboayaka.

“As the Chief Security Officer of Ebonyi State, Governor Nwifuru remains committed to upholding justice ,ensuring peace and protecting the rights of all Ebonyians, including those who express concerns about security matters .

“It is important to clarify that the role of the Governor is to collaborate with security agencies to safeguard lives and property, not to interfere in law enforcement procedures.

“Any arrest or investigation by the Nigerian police is purely within the jurisdiction of the security agencies, independent of any influence from Governor”, part of the statement reads

The Governor, while condemning in the strongest terms the unprovoked attack on the people of Amegu Nkalaha, however, reassured of his readiness towards collaborating with security agencies to prevent a repeat of such gruesome incident.

Meanwhile, the lead  Counsel to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra Leader,  IPOB, Aloy Ejimakor, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of the OYC president.

In a statement posted on his official site Monday, Ejimakor questioned both the motives and the manner of Igboayaka’s arrest .

He accused Governor Nwifuru of masterminding the youth leader’s travails.

” I hereby demand the immediate release of Igboayaka Igboayaka, the President of Ohaneze Youth Wing who was, on 8th February, 2025, arrested under questionable circumstances in Owerri and taken to Ebonyi, reportedly on the orders of the Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru . Ndigbo should intervene”, Ejimakor stated