The leader of Etche Local Government Legislative Assembly in Rivers State, Mrs Cynthia Nwala, was beaten and nearly stripped naked during a fracas at the council secretariat on Monday, October 5.
Speaking to journalists via telephone after the incident, Nwala said after she and other councillors screened nominees for appointment as supervisory Councillors and special assistants and that after the exercise, she decided to go home with the mace of the assembly due to some rumours that it may be hijacked by hired thugs to impeach her.
Nwala told newsmen that as she was about leaving the Council Secretariat, the Council Chairman allegedly ordered his CSO to beat and strip her naked, while her car was badly damaged.
Nwala alleged that the Deputy Leader of the Legislative Assembly, in connivance with some Councillors and the Chairman of Council had also wanted to remove her from office because she hails from Ikwerre ethnic nationality and not from Etche, though she is married to an Etche man.
However, the Chairman of the Council denied the allegations of being the mastermind of the incident. He claimed that his officer intervened in the fracas between Nwala and her colleagues to calm a charged situation.
In a press statement signed by Robinson Oluor, his Chief Press Secretary, the Etche council boss said Nwala was trying to take the mace to her house when her fellow councillors accosted her and this led to the fracas.
“The Chief Security Officer to the Council Chairman is not a member of Etche Legislative Assembly and will never be part of the internal issues of the Etche Legislative Assembly.
It is also important to clearly state that the Chief Security Officer to the Council Chairman never attacked or harassed the Leader of the House; as he is not one of the councillors and the Etche Local Government Council leadership has much respect for the Etche Legislative Assembly”, the statement read.