One week after former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon Chibudom Nwuche,  was arrested and detained on allegation of illegal possession of firearms,  his friends and associates have called for his release.
According to one of them, who gave his name as Wali, the former lawmaker is being persecuted because  he exposed those who raided his house.  Wali alleged that during the illegal search of his house, his Rolex watch and Certificates of Occupancy (C of Os) were stolen and  a gun was planted to implicate him.
He said: “How come they are only raising this falsehood  five months after the search of his residence? Why have they not been able to name the criminal who found the gun and the second one now wanted by the police for the sale of his C of Os?”
He said about 18 persons raided Nwuche’s house, but only three of them signed the search warrant, which he said was illegal. He called for the bail of Nwuche.
“The alleged offence is bailable according to Section 30 & 31 of the  Administration of Criminal Justice Act and Sections 35 & 36 of the constitution,” Wali said.
He alleged that Nwuche’s ordeal was orchestrated by a top member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the state, in the Federal Government, over the coming 2019 governorship election.
According to him, “they want to dent Nwuche’s profile on account of his 2019 ambition. They have been instigating security agencies against him. They have no case against him  whatsoever. They have been fishing for an offence for the past nine months and failed.
“Nwuche has served Nigeria at the highest levels without blemish. Should he have kept silent about all the attempts to blackmail him and his  stolen C of Os?,” he said.
Wali said there were plans to “arraign, embarrass and conduct a media trial of Nwuche for illegal firearms possession when the authorities have refused to name the criminal that purportedly found the arms.”
He appealed to the Inspector General of Police to release Nwuche on bail, while the investigations to unravel those behind the raids in his house and owner of the illegal firearms continues.