Imo: LP Candidate Released After Days in Police Custody

 

By Nurat Uthman

Clinton Amadi, the Labour Party candidate for the Imo State House of Assembly election in Owerri Municipal State constituency, has been released from police custody.

He was arrested on Tuesday at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) secretariat in Owerri while attempting to obtain Certified True Copies of INEC results for his case at the Election Petitions Tribunal.

According to an anonymous source, Amadi was released on Thursday by the men of the Tiger Base of the police command in the state after they realized that his lawyers had beaten the deadline for filing the post-election matter at the tribunal.

Fabian Ihekwueme, a chieftain of the Labour Party in the state, confirmed the release and stated that Amadi, who previously served as a lawmaker at the state House of Assembly between 2007 and 2011, had gone home.

“He was released Thursday after they learnt that his lawyers had already filed his Election petition in the Tribunal. They were keeping him because they didn’t want him to file his case. But luck ran out of them. Clinton has filed his case with the certified True Copies,” Ihekwueme said.

Amadi’s arrest and detention by the police had drawn public condemnation, with many calling for his immediate release.

INEC had declared Ugochukwu Obodo of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the election, but Amadi claimed that from the results posted on INEC’s portal, he had won the election.