Uche Awegbe, age 40, was charged by the police in Ebonyi State on Monday for making threats against the state’s governor, David Umahi, to kill him.
According to the police, Mr. Awegbe killed two state citizens by shooting them at Effium, a neighborhood prone to conflict in the state’s Ohaukwu Local Government Area.
The defendant was also accused of illegally possessing a knife and weapons.
Obi Eberechukwu, the police prosecutor, alleged in court that the defendant sent text messages to Governor Umahi on August 19 threatening to kill him.
The accused was also accused of inciting intercommunal conflict in the Effium community in 2021, which resulted in the deaths of some locals.
One of the charges against Mr Awegbe read: “That you, Uche Awegbe, on the 19th day of August 2022 at Number 9, Umuoji Street, Abakaliki, did threaten the life of Engr. David Umahi, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State by sending death threat message to him through your MTN phone number 09039946XXX and thereby committed offence punishable under Section 12 (1) (b) of Ebonyi State Internal Security Enforcement and Related Matters Law, Cap 55, Volume 2 Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.
Another of the charge read: “That you, Uche Awegbe, and others in charge numbers MAB/69c/2021,MAB/838c/ 2021 and MAB/891c/2021 on the 5th day of November 2021 at Effium community, Ohaukwu Local Government Area within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did go armed with guns and machetes in public without lawful occasion in such a manner as to cause terror and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 80 of the Criminal Code, Cap 33, Volume 1 Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.”
Due to the seriousness of the alleged crimes, the court rejected the defendant’s plea.
The hearing was postponed till October 10 by Magistrate Linda Ogbodo, who mandated that Mr. Awegbe be kept in custody at the Correctional Facility.
She instructed the state’s Department of Public Prosecution to get the original case file, all relevant evidence, and all papers in order to receive legal counsel.