- * Security Agents Said To Be On His Trail
By Nnanna Orji (Abia State Correspondent)
An Abuja based businessman and suspected supporter and financier of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), a self determination movement in the South East Nigeria, Mr Emmanuel Uchenna Akubue, has reportedly fled to Europe for personal safety.
NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper Correspondent reliably gathered that Mr Akubue escaped out of Nigeria on Thursday November 17, 2022 through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja to France, ostensibly to evade possible arrest and prosecution by Nigeria's Security agents who were said to be on his trail.
It was also learnt that the security operatives said to be police officers allegedly trailed Akubue from Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia state capital, to his base in Abuja. The security operatives allegedly stormed Umuahia in search of him on November 10, 2022 based on suspected tip-off that Emmanuel Uchenna Akubue is one of the local financier of IPOB and that he visited Umuahia a couple of days earlier to attend the meeting of the pro-IPOB members at Ibeku.
NEWSLEADER Correspondent however gathered that Mr Akubue donated the sum of N2.5 million to the group at the meeting during a fund raising exercise initiated by the organizers of the meeting of IPOB members to mobilize funds for logistics support of the Biafran cause of self determination by the IPOB group in Igboland, and also for the widows, orphans and those having challenges coping with hard times.
According to an IPOB source at the meeting who pleaded not to be named for obvious security reasons, Akubue has been one of the strong financial and moral backers of the IPOB group in the South East Zone of Nigeria. The source also disclosed that he has been offering support to the pro-Biafran group in many states of the Igbo-speaking South East zone including those of Delta and Rivers states in Nigeria's South South zone.
"Mr Akubue", said the IPOB source in Umahia, "has been a good pillar of support for the cause of our IPOB movement, not only here in Umuahia but in most parts of Igboland, Rivers and Delta states. We invited him to one of our meeting at Ibeku on October 1, to discuss how to support the Biafran cause which we have been fighting for for many years. Part of that meeting agenda was to discuss the issue of 2023 general elections and how to avoid crisis in Igboland.
"At the end of that meeting, we did a launching to raise funds to support the less privileged widows, orphans and the poor Biafrans and also gather funds for logistics for our IPOB agitations. Mr Emmanuel Uchenna Akubue donated the sum of N2.5 million to us that day. But on November 10 (2022), security agents came to Umahia in search of the organisers and supporters of IPOB. They started making arrest of our members. We discovered that they were more interested in people who were supporting us financially. Those arrested mentioned Mr Akubue and the security officers went after him. They looked for Mr Akubue and eventually traced him to Abuja where he is based.
"Our group got intelligence information that the security agents trailed him to his house only to find out that he had travelled out of the country. We also learnt that in their desperate search for him, the police traced him everywhere including his business office located somewhere called Gudu in Abuja.
"Somehow, his office was sealed and we understand too, that even his bank accounts were monitored. But he got information about the search for him through his family and friends and he found a way to escape out of the country", the IPOB source narrated.
Our Correspondent gathered from his family members in Abuja that Mr Akubue was assisted by his personal lawyer, some close friends and business associates to flee the country.
The fugitive circumstances of his alleged escape from Nigeria in search of safety has generated serious anxiety and agonizing concern for his wife, children and members of his family and friends who are presently worried about his safety and well-being in Europe.
This means, however, that Mr Emmanuel Uchenna Akubue may have to contend with the hazardous and precarious life of a fugitive from state persecution in a foreign land for a long time.
This Newspaper gathered from a brief from family source that Mr Akubue's trouble with the Nigeria security agents actually started way back in 2021. The source in his family revealed that sometime on November 5, 2021, just a day to the Saturday November 6, 2021 governorship election in Anambra state, Akubue was invited to the commercial city of Onitsha by the IPOB group to address them on Biafran issues and on the Anambra election.
Akubue who on arrival at Onitsha for the meeting scheduled on the eve of the Anambra election, observed that the youths of the pro-Biafra group were angry with the Nigerian authorities and were threatening to disrupt the Anambra governorship election, managed to calm the youths down and advised them on the need to maintain peace, law and order and avoid playing into the hands of the security agents. He offered the group some financial support as usual.
But while at the meeting, the family source said, a combined team of security operatives stormed the venue and raided the group and allegedly took some of the members away including their benefactor, Mr Emmanuel Uchenna Akubue, to an unkown destination where they were allegedly kept for almost three months. They were equally alleged to have been thoroughly beaten and some injured.
Akubue's miraculous release from the alleged secret detention on February 12, 2022 was however facilitated by his lawyer through one of the security officers of Northern Nigeria origin. The family source also revealed that Akubue's family parted with an alleged bribe payment of about N3 million to secure his freedom through an alleged deal initiated by his captors with his lawyer.
He however found his back to his base at Abuja upon release, but still continued with his discreet financial and moral support to the IPOB group, though he was said to have stopped attending their meetings on invitation momentarily for fear of further security arrest and harassment.
But his October 1, 2022 public outing at the IPOB meeting held at Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia state, was the last straw that ignited the current security search for him, only to discover that he had bolted out of Nigeria allegedly based on an earlier planned holiday to France. NNL.
