A hotelier, Chinonso Uba, has expressed surprise on why his hotel, drink depot and country home, at Okporo and Obor communities in the Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State were set ablaze by security operatives penultimate Sunday.
The hotelier told journalists in Owerri, Imo State, that the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector General of Police then manned by now suspended Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police arrested him in February and investigated him for six weeks and released him after it was discovered that he had no link with Indigenous People of Biafra.
The hotelier said, “That Sunday, I saw them and I ran away. All of a sudden the security men started burning my hotel and destroying my properties. The hotel has four upstairs. They burnt three of my vehicles and four vehicles belonging to brewery companies that came to delivery goods to me with all the drinks they were carrying.
“They burnt my wife’s shop with all the goods in it. Burnt three motorcycles. They went to my warehouse and burnt the whole drinks and property there. The security operatives proceeded to my country home, burnt my house and equally burnt my father’s house. They also burnt my 2012 highlander jeep parked there.
“The operation is so strange to me because I was in February arrested for a false allegation that I was sponsoring IPOB. I was detained at Imo State command headquarters in Owerri and after which I was transferred to Abuja where I spent another three weeks
“After a thorough investigation, it was discovered that I had no hand in any crime. Abba Kyari granted me bail without collecting a dime from me. I was asked to be reporting at IRT team in Abuja for three weeks which I did before coming back to Imo State to continue with business.
“Since then, I had been running my business on a low key. I stopped making use of any vehicle and even handed over my hotel to my manager to run so as to stay away from trouble. It is on record that since then no police or security agency had asked me to report for any further questioning.
“I was surprised when they came destroying my belongings. I quickly called Abuja and the team that investigated me said that they had no hand in it.”
While debunking the police position that those who attacked Omuma and Njaba police Divisional headquarters took off from the hotel, Uba said that he had lost several millions of naira in the arson.
While giving an update on the Orlu incident on Sunday during a press conference, the state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, said that the command was hunting for the remaining suspects. (Punch)
