Witness Testifies Against Factional Imo APC Guber ‘Candidate’, Uche Nwosu Over Bailout Fund Theft

One of governorship aspirants laying claims to APC ticket in Imo State, Uche Nwosu who has been facing messy scandal of alleged theft of bailout fund got a dose of what he didn’t bargain for on Monday as one of the witness called by prosecutors testified against him.

Nwosu, who was produced in one of the party primary as APC ‘candidate’ in Imo state is the son-in-law to Governor Rochas Okorocha.

He has been facing a scandalous theft of bailout fund levelled against him by the publisher of a local tabloid, Community Watchdog, Precious Nwadike who published that the theft of hundreds of hard currencies in Uche Nwosu’s apartment in 2015 were part of Imo bailout fund that reportedly got missing in the state.

BigPen Online gathered that there was a mild drama on Monday when the libelous lawsuit instituted by Nwosu came up for hearing at an Owerri Magistrate Court in charge No OW/451C/2015 when the Witness opened up on the matter.

The witness who is said to be one of the suspects in the case of theft in Uche Nwosu’s house, earlier rumoured to have been silenced and put out of circulation, surfaced in court to give account of what he knows, that transpired as Principal Witness two (W.2) to the alleged theft.

In his testimony, he gave graphic explanation of how he was arrested by men of Nigerian police while being examined by counsel to Community Watchdog, Barr E.C Okafor.

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He said: “On November 2, 2015, some policemen stormed my house in Owerri and arrested me in connection with alleged theft without presenting any warrant of arrest.

“Efforts to ascertain the reason for my arrest initially, proved abortive following the refusal of police to inform me of the reason for that”, he told the court.

According to him, he couldn’t also, understand the rationale for the arrest hence he made frantic effort to reach some of his relatives to inform them of the ugly development, in case anything bad happened to him”, the witness further revealed.

He stated that, it was after he was taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), of the State Police Command, where he was compelled to write a statement on what he knew about the money stolen from Mr Uche Nwosu’s house, that he had an idea of those behind his arrest.

Continuing, he said, there was a wide spread claims that what was stolen from Uche Nwosu’s house was part of the Imo bailout fund.

He told the court that when he was arrested, he told the police that he did not know anything about the alleged missing bailout fund, but was slapped by one Bawa, a member of the interrogating team, at the state CID Owerri.

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He said, it was after the slap from Bawa, because of his refusal to own up on the accusation as an accomplice in the theft of the fund, that he was subsequently dumped in the police cell for 28 days without trial and was later taken on bail by his uncle.

Addressing journalists shortly after the court proceeding, the suspect, Mr Okechukwu, explained that his friend worked as a house-keeper to Uche Nwosu at the time of the incident and had used “Okey welder”, to save his phone number.

Upon arresting him over the theft and after going through his handset to ascertain his recent calls, they saw his name and number and suspected that he was the welder that assisted the thieves to break the safe inside Uche Nwosu’s house, and elope with the billions of naira for which there was an uproar in Okorocha’s abode.

The police called his number and ordered him to give them the direction to his house. This he volunteered, without suspecting that both his friend and himself were in deep trouble, he recounted.

However, at the police station, all effort he made to prove that he was not the welder that broke the safe proved abortive, until his uncle, a former member of Imo State House of Assembly warned the police and other parties concerned in the illegal arrest of the consequences of detaining an innocent person over a criminal act that he was reluctantly granted bail.

The uncle had vowed to personally expose the improprieties leading to Okechukwu’s arrest thus compelling the authorities at government house Owerri to order his release.

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At this stage, the police handed Okechukwu over to his uncle.

Okechukwu in another response to a press enquiry, on whether he has been in contact with his ill-fated friend who was working for Uche Nwosu as housekeeper, before the missing bailout fund, said, since he was arrested and later released, he has been calling his friends number all to no avail and no one has told him his whereabout.

According to Okechukwu, one of his relatives that resides at Umuahia, had expressed worry over his safety, since no one has heard from him since after the forced release from detention.

Meanwhile, counsel to Community Watchdog Publisher, Barr E.C Okafor, has raised serious concern over the safety of his clients and witnesses over alleged speculations that the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Ezeji handling the matter was poisoned.

He expressed fear over the safety of other witnesses saying, the development is threatening and frightful, coupled with series of threat the publisher receives.

The case was adjourned to November 16, 2018, when Community Watchdog and Precious Nwadike are expected to produce more witnesses for cross examination.

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Recalls that the case of Imo missing bailout fund has been subsisting in various courts of jurisdiction, since 2015.