Tension In Anambra Assembly As Armed Men Try To Whisk Away Member-elect

There was palpable tension at the Anambra State House of Assembly as suspected operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, attempted to whisk away Mr Onyekachukwu Ike, a member-elect for Nnewi North constituency.

The four armed men drove into the Assembly complex in three vehicles and grabbed the member-elect after he participated in a valedictory thanksgiving mass for the seventh Assembly.

They forced the member-elect into their vehicle and were trying to drive out of the Assembly complex when security personnel quickly locked the exit gate.

The Acting Clerk of the Assembly, Mrs Esther Aneto, and other senior staff lamented that the suspected DSS operatives did not inform them or even the Police personnel at the Assembly before trying to whisk Ike away.

One of the suspected DSS operatives, however, explained that they had a court order to arrest the member-elect.

It took the intervention of the Speaker, Dr Uche Okafor, and the Deputy Governor, Dr Onyeka Ibezim, who came to represent the Governor at the Valedictory session of the seventh Assembly, before the member-elect was released.