ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State on Sunday, distanced himself from the arrest of Nnamdi Chude, an ardent supporter of the Labour Party, (LP).
The Governor who stated this on his official Twitter handle on Sunday, noted that the State Government had no information about Chude’s arrest.
Chude was arrested by the Anambra State Police Command for allegedly likening the current Soludo led-administration to the terror-tainted tenure of former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju.
It was learnt that suspected thugs of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the State invaded multiple polling units while the state’s House of Assembly elections were underway on Saturday.
According to Mr. Chude, who witnessed the incident and described it on his Twitter page, the thugs snatched the ballot boxes to disrupt the voting process out of desperation that APGA candidates might lose to Labour Party opponents in the state parliamentary elections, similar to what happened in the presidential polls.
“#Breaking: APGA thugs are on rampage in Trans-Nkisi, 3’3 & Awada snatching ballot box. LP is winning comfortably across Anambra,” Mr Chude tweeted at 4:12 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
Chude likened Mr Soludo’s inability to stop election violence in the state to that of his distant predecessor, Mr Mbadinuju, whose tenure witnessed a surge in brazen crimes and blatant disregard for the rule of law.
“I can’t remember the last time I heard of ballot box snatching in Anambra. this is the height of it,@CCSoludo has taken us back to Mbadinauju’s era,” Mr Chude added.
According to a source, around 5:30 p.m., security operatives swiftly picked up Chude from Onitsha and transported him to Awka’s SCID where he was detained on cybercrime charges.
Reacting to Chude’s arrest, Soludo said: “The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Police Command has confirmed to me, that one Mr Nnamdi Chude was arrested yesterday (18/03/23) in Anambra by the Cyber Crime Unit of Interpol and taken to Abuja today (19/03/23).
“The Anambra State Government has no information about the specific allegations or basis of his arrest.”