The gun belonging to a soldier attached to the convoy of Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, which was reportedly missing following last week’s road blockade affecting the Governor’s convoy, has been found.
The confirmation was made by the Governor himself on Thursday while addressing a delegation of traders in the State during a meeting at the Banquet hall, Government House, Abakaliki.
Umahi, who seized the opportunity of the event to express his displeasure over the trending report quoting him as having threatened to order the killing of anyone who blocks his convoy, warned journalists against instigating war in the State with their freedom of expression.
He cautioned certain journalists in the State to watch their reportorial excesses or be prepared to leave the State or face other consequences, adding that the law should guide their freedom of expression.
He narrated the incident leading to the missing of the gun and explained that the said gun fell off as the soldiers went out to ensure that the blockade was removed by drunk wake keepers who placed them.
He added that the barricade was not specifically targeted against his convoy but expressed worry that the wake keepers remained adamant when his security personnel approached them, expressing fears what would have happened if it were ordinary citizens.
Umahi said: “SA Media, you have to warn our press.
“Anybody that wants to write rubbish should go out of this state and do that.
“How can somebody quote me that I said block my convoy and get shot.
“It is this nonsense that set up war.
“You think that you can just upset a state or people?
“Then the people have the freedom to slap you too.
“Our system should be a system with law and order, and you don’t have the right to come and destroy people or a person because you have freedom of speech.
“It’s very good that they have found the gun.
“And I said that they didn’t block my convoy in Onicha.
“The soldiers even came out pleading with them to unblock the road and they refused.
“They were doing wake keep and drank themselves to stupor that they didn’t recognise the Army.
“So it was in the process that the soldiers moved and their gun felt down from the vehicle and they didn’t know.
“Nobody fougth with the Amy.
“Why I came hard on them was that if you were drunk and you didn’t recognise the soldiers, what if it were ordinary person what will happen to them?
“And when we where moving down to Oshiri, we saw people’s vehicles that were moving down that side.
“Nobody will condone such lawlessness.
“We are still taking them to court.”
Recall that the media was recently awash with reports on blockade of the Governor’s convoy along Onicha in Onicha Local Government Area of the State while on his way back to the capital from Uburu, his home town, on Friday night.
The event, which was narrated by the Governor himself, had attracted various media perspectives that seemed to have infuriated him.
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