For many people, including a number of former and present Aides of Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, the arrest of his former Aide, Nze Chinasa Nwaneri, by the Police it is jubilation time. It is karma at work. To others the arrest is a shock. They are in disbelief. What they are all agreed on, however, is that “there is time for everything, and the time to interrogate Nze Nwaneri is now.”
During Governor Uzodinma’s first tenure in office, Nze Nwaneri was, without doubt, the Governor’s most powerful Aide. He was the Governor’s Special Assistant for Special Duties, but he was everywhere. He was his closest Aide. The most powerful. He literally took over everybody’s job, including Security. He had the ears of the Governor. He was, according to a number of people, the Governor’s most trusted Aide.
Not a few people insist you had to be in his good books to be in the good books of the Governor. A former Aide confided that he, allegedly, literally destroyed not a few innocent people before the Governor. But all that has come to end – so suddenly. As another former Aide, who, for years, was the Governor’s friend and who watched his back, “I thank God that the sh*t has hit the roof, and the Governor now knows who is who. The sh*t has hit the roof. That guy killed me before the Governor. I suddenly became a nobody. ”
Not many people had an inkling that something was wrong until when Governor Uzodinma dissolved his Cabinet as soon as he was sworn-in for a second term in office without reappointing Nwaneri immediately to his former position. Days and weeks passed, and there was nothing for Nwaneri. The surprise was final when the Governor reconstituted his Cabinet, appointed Commissioners, Special Advisers and Special Assistants, and Nwaneri’s name was nowhere.
Before all that, speculations had been rife that Nze Nwaneri had allegedly got himself involved in a number of scandalous issues that hurt, shocked and embarrassed the Governor. They alleged that the Governor felt betrayed and embarrassed that the name of his very close, trusted Aide could be so entangled with the scandals.
The scandals included, but not limited to alleged land racketeering, forgeries of Certificates of Occupancy, and worse, the Governor’s signature.
It is not known how much Nwaneri was involved in the allegations, but the scandal surrounding land racketeering had led to the removal from office, arrest and investigation of former Commissioners for Housing and Lands and Physical Planning, Mrs Love Ineh and Noble Atulegwu respectively.
A few days ago, Eze Amuchie, aka, Chinco, the boss of Imo State Amalgamated Association of Traders, ISAMAT was arrested on the orders of the Governor over allegations of constructing markets in the State without the approval of the Governor or anybody. It is not known if Nze Nwaneri was involved or not in the unwholesome business.
But a couple of days after, it was the turn of Nze Chinasa Nwaneri to be arrested. He was arrested at the Rockview Hotel, Owerri, his residence in the past two years or so. He was arrested by the Imo Police Command’s State Investigation Bureau, SIB, and has since been detained on sundry allegations, including land racketeering and alleged forgeries of documents and signatures.
An unconfirmed source said soon after his arrest, Nze Nwaneri’s blood pressure rose to high heavens, and he was taken to the hospital. He has, however, been returned to detention after he was stabilized.
For Governor Uzodinma, it is a difficult situation. To have his former closest Aide in Police detention is hard, but harder still for him than that is the betrayal he feels by the trusted Aide.
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