{"id":38982,"date":"2015-05-29T02:59:02","date_gmt":"2015-05-29T01:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=38982"},"modified":"2015-05-29T02:59:02","modified_gmt":"2015-05-29T01:59:02","slug":"group-blame-akpabio-for-death-of-billionaire-apc-chieftain-ime-umana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/group-blame-akpabio-for-death-of-billionaire-apc-chieftain-ime-umana\/","title":{"rendered":"Group blame Akpabio for death of billionaire APC chieftain, Ime Umana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1432840814391_9895\" class=\"base-card-body\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1432840814391_9894\" class=\"msg-body inner  undoreset\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1432840814391_9893\" class=\"email-wrapped\">\n<div id=\"yiv2236102809\">\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1432840814391_9940\" dir=\"ltr\">An Abuja-based group, Akwa Ibom Rescue Forum, has blamed the outgoing governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, over the death of Ime Umana, a foremost philanthropist and business mogul from the state.<br \/>\nMr. Umana, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, died in an auto crash on Monday while returning to Lagos after attending a court session in Uyo.<br \/>\nBut the group\u2019s Coordinator, Leo Ekpenyong, said Mr. Umana would not have died but for the protracted politically-motivated court case between him (Umana) and the outgoing governor.<br \/>\nMr. Ekpenyong, who is also a legal practitioner, said Akwa Ibom people are devastated by the demise of the frontline philanthropist and business mogul. and friend of the less-privileged.<br \/>\nHe, therefore, blamed Mr. Akpabio for what he described as the \u201cimmediate and remote\u201d cause of the philanthropist\u2019s death.<br \/>\n\u201cOn behalf of Akwa Ibom Rescue Forum, we wish to express our displeasure, anger as well as chagrin with the remote and immediate cause of the death of this politician.<br \/>\n\u201cI must say here that the spate of political persecution in the state as far back 2007 till date is worrisome.<br \/>\n\u201cIt should be recalled that sometimes in 2010; Mr. Umana was reported to security operatives for alleged involvement in the planned kidnapping of Godswill Akpabio,\u201d he said.<br \/>\n\u201cWe were surprised to learn of the effrontery of a private individual to kidnap a sitting governor in Nigeria.<br \/>\n\u201cHowever, Mr. Umana was arrested and detained. On one of our visits to him while in detention, he told of us of the nasty and excruciating experience he went through in the hands of security operatives.<br \/>\n\u201cHe told us of how his cell was fumigated with gaseous substance that affected his respiratory system. He was eventually prosecuted.\u201d<br \/>\nWhile the offence for which Mr. Umana was charged is bailable, Mr.<br \/>\nEkpenyong said the outgoing governor prevailed on the former Chief Judge of the state, Idongesit Ntem Isua, not to grant the accused bail.<br \/>\nAccording to him, Mrs. Isua stood her ground and granted bail to Mr. Umana but with a condition he must appear personally anytime the case is heard.<br \/>\nEven with his age and the stringent condition attached to the bail, he said the septuagenarian subjected himself to the rigours of a politically-motivated criminal trial.<br \/>\n\u201cSubjecting a man of that age and status in the society to the excruciating rigours of criminal trial most especially when it was politically motivated is callous to say the least,\u201d Mr. Ekpenyong maintained.<br \/>\nMr. Ekpenyong noted that the outgoing governor had used the immense power of his office to harass his political opponents and bring untold hardship on them.<br \/>\nHe listed the victims to include a former Board Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Sam Edem, former Secretary to the State Government and APC governorship candidate, Umana Okon Umana, and former Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, James Udoedehe, among others.<br \/>\n\u201cMr. Umana met his untimely death while returning to Lagos after attending the court session to answer trumped up charges Mr. Akpabio brought against him. Won\u2019t it therefore, be appropriate to say Godswill Akpabio is responsible for his death?\u201d he asked.<br \/>\nGovernor Akpabio\u2019s spokesperson, Aniekan Umanah, did not answer or return calls seeking comments for this story.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Premium Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"base-card-clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Abuja-based group, Akwa Ibom Rescue Forum, has blamed the outgoing governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, over the death of Ime Umana, a foremost philanthropist and business mogul&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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