Senator Abaribe Denies Being Manhandled By Soldiers At Obingwa Checkpoint

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has denied media reports that he was detained and humiliated by soldiers at an Army checkpoint in Obingwa.

The lawmaker who represents Abia South, stated that there is no element of truth in the report, which claimed the soldiers who were deployed after the killing of five soldiers in Aba by non-state actors delayed him at a checkpoint while returning from a burial in Obingwa last Thursday.

Abaribe in a statement on Sunday by his media aide, Uchenna Awom, said instead, the soldiers were very professional and courteous in carrying out their responsibility. He therefore urged members of the public to disregard news about him being delayed and approached in a disrespectful manner by the soldiers of the Nigerian Army.

He said, “It is laughable and false”, the report that soldiers humbled and delayed him at a checkpoint while returning from a burial in Obingwa last Thursday.

“I was never accosted, delayed or approached in a disrespectful manner by the soldiers. My observation at the point was that of a professional force carrying out their duty in a most humane and respectful manner, despite the ugly events of the day. “So, one wonders the motive of the author of the jaundiced and highly speculative report even to the conjecture from the said writer to have overheard me calling the State governor to intervene and also heard the reported negative reaction from the Governor. It nothing but a tissue of lies.

“I salute the Soldiers and reiterate my earlier statement condemning what happened last Thursday. That report is false and authored to achieve a devious political goal. ”