A business man, Mr Chinedu Anaukwu, has dragged a former member of the House of Representatives from Anambra State, Chinedu Obidigwe, to court for beating him up for demanding accountability for his performance as lawmaker.
Obidigwe who represented Anambra East/West Federal Constituency, was said to have carried out the act in 2023, shortly before the general election.
According to the victim: “It was in 2023, just before the general election, I had written in Aguleri World Forum, a WhatsApp group, demanding accountability from Obidigwe who was then recontesting to return to the House of Representatives.
“I told him it had been over three years that he had been in the National Assembly, and that before aspiring for re-election, he should give us account of his constituency funds and other achievements in the area.
“His boys were not happy about it, and one day he accosted me with over 13 thugs and ordered them to kill me. They beat me until I lost consciousness.”;
When the matter came up on Tuesday at Otuocha High Court, Anambra East Local Government Area, counsel to Anaukwu, Chief Gozie Obi, SAN, withdrew the charges against the second and fifth defendants in the matter, who were identified as aides of Obidigwe who participated in the assault.
While the second defendant is said to be already late, the fifth was said not to have been served with the processes.
Obi who spoke to journalists, said: “Today is the first time the matter is coming up in court for pretrial hearing and in the course of the proceeding it came to light that the second defendant is late and since you can’t sue a dead person, we had to withdraw against him.
“Also, the fifth defendant was not served, but we wanted the case to progress, so we had to withdraw against him too, moreso when we know that the principal defendant is Obidigwe as all the others were just his aides, and acted under his instruction.”;
During the sitting, the principal defendant, Obidigwe, was represented by his lawyer, Barrister Emmanuel Offoh.
The matter was later adjourned to November 18 for continuation pretrial before full hearing.
The plaintiff, Anaukwu, in his prayers, is asking for N200 million compensation for his ordeal, as well as the conviction of the former Rep.
