A former chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State, Chief Dan Ulasi was Sunday reportedly kidnapped in Amichi near Nnewi, by five AK-47- wielding men.
Ulasi, who said he was lucky to have been pushed out of his vehicle by one of his captors, over two hours later in Akwaeze, Anaocha Local Government Area, accused Senator Ifeanyi Ubah of staging the kidnap.
However, Senator Ubah denied complicity in the abduction of the aged politician, heaping the blame at the feet of his “political detractors”.
Narrated Ulasi, “Ifeanyi Ubah organized some armed men to kidnap me. After kidnapping me, they took away the Toyota Landcuiser he gave me when he was contesting for governorship. Aside the vehicle, they took my phones and other valuables. I’ve just been able to welcome back a new SIM”.
The politician told Pointblanknews.com that his ordeal began after Ubah arrived for a meeting of a cabinet of Nnewi chiefs, but refused to greet him.
Said Ulasi, “Ifeanyi Ubah arrived and refused to greet me. Somebody had told me that he was angry that I failed to mention him as a serious governorship candidate in a recent interview with AIT.
“After the meeting began, several cabinet chiefs corroborated my stand that even though we had agreed to support an Nnewi son for the governorship, he had not shown sufficient seriousness for the job.
“The governorship of a state like Anambra is not for jesters. It is for serious minded people. People who have demonstrated diligence in their personal and business lives. Not people who will gamble with the state” remarked Ulasi
According to the politician, the meeting which had in attendance billionaire-icons of industry from Nnewi promised to support Ubah’s aspiration on the condition that he approached them for support.
“At this point, Ifeanyi flared up, boasting that he didn’t need anybody’s financial.support since, according to him (Ubah), he was the richest man in Nnewi.,” noted Ulasi.
According to Ulasi, several Nnewi chiefs at the meeting took turns to slam Senator Ubah for “his arrogance and lack of decorum” required of a man seeking such political office.
“After the meeting, Ifeanyi pretended to bury the hatchet, and asked if I was returning to Enugu. When I left the meeting venue, my driver alerted me that a vehicle was trailing us. I dismissed it. This and the question Ifeanyi asked didn’t make much sense to me until much later,” he stated.
According to the politician, no sooner had he left Nnewi than a car began to trail him. With hindsight, he said, the vehicle most probably was detailed by Ubah to know if he would use the Awka-Etiti or Amichi exit roads. It was as he neared Chisco park in Amichi that five men brandishing AK-47 rifles cut off the road from the opposite side.
“The way they blocked my vehicle showed that they had foreknowledge that I was going to use the road. This was about 5.30 pm. They seized my phones, blindfolded me took over from my driver, and began asking me several personal questions, apparently to make sure they had the right man.
“Blindfolded, I also head them calling on another group I suspect had gone to block an alternate exit point. I kept pleading the blood of Jesus, to which one of them threatened to shoot me if I didn’t stop.
“At that point, one of the other armed men up raised him for threatening to shoot. That he should concentrate on the job they were assigned to do, which was to return the vehicle by all means,” said Ulasi.
He added, it was at this point that it began to make sense to me that Ifeanyi wanted to forcefully retrieve a vehicle he gave me over ten years ago simply because I refused to be his cheerleader.”
Senator Ubah, who spoke through one if his aides, admitted that he had political differences with Chief Ulasi, but noted that he has never been identified with violence.
“We are nearing the elections which I’m a front runner. You expect people to hurl all manner of blackmail at you. Senator Ubah is a lawyer, and too principled to resort to kidnapping people for the sake of retrieving a vehicle he willingly gifted a man who worked for him,” declared the aide.