Franklin Ozuruigbo, an Imo-based comedian, has accused the Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Amara Iwuanyanwu, of ordering his boys to beat him up over a Facebook post the lawmaker considered critical.
He said that the deputy speaker also took him to be locked up by the police while boasting that nobody could save him.
Daily Trust quoted the comedian as laying the allegations in the state capital, Owerri during a press conference.
Ozuruigbo, who hails from the same community as the deputy speaker, explained that the lawmaker’s Chief of Staff, Paul Duru lured him to his boss’s lodge in the state capital.
He said he was tricked to wait until midnight, when the deputy speaker could see him.
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The comedian further explained that upon sighting him, Iwuanyanwu ordered his boys to beat him up over the Facebook posts.
Ozuruigbo disclosed that after he was beaten up, Iwuanyanwu took him to the state police command headquarters and asked the police to detain him.
The comedian said that only the timely intervention of the member representing Nwangele/Nkwerre/Njaba/Isu Federal Constituency of the state, Ugonna Ozurigbo saved him from indefinite detention.
He said it was after Ozurigbo and his aides arrived at the police headquarters that he was allowed to go home that night.
“The deputy speaker told me before taking me to the police headquarters that no human being from Nwangele can secure my release. ‘I will make sure you rot in police custody. You can’t be insulting me on Facebook and get away with it. I will tell you that we own this state and country’,” Ozuruigbo stated.
“I want the world to hold the deputy speaker responsible should anything happen to me or any member of my family. I also fear that I was poisoned at his lodge because I took the drinks they gave to me before his arrival because I never suspected any foul play. I have been having stomach upset since I took that drink,” he aded.
Reacting, the Deputy Speaker’s Chief of Staff, Paul Duru denied that his boss assaulted or caused anyone to assault Ozuruigbo.
He said that the police only arrested the command after his boss submitted a petition against him at the police headquarters.
Duru alleged that his boss gave the comedian N300,000 five months ago but the comedian had been going around to defame him in a bid to extort more money from him.