A member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), identified as Mr. Paul Ukwamedua, has allegedly beaten a female party member identified as Mrs. Maureen Isichei for her refusal to support the Delta State House of Assembly (DTHA) candidate for Aniocha North State Constituency under Accord Party (AD), in Issele-Azagba in Aniocha north local government area of the state.
Mrs. Isichei, a housewife, met the shocker of her life when Mr. Ukwamedua, an alleged disloyal PDP stalwart bounced on her from behind while returning from Mr. Ukwamedua’s younger brother’s wife shop.
Trouble started on Friday November 4th 2022, when Mrs. Isichei, who went to see her brother-in-law but met his absence, told the wife to help appeal to Mr. Ukwamedua, the PDP secretary of Ward 5, Issele-Azagba/Issele-Mkpitime, to stop the alleged threat on her family for not accepting to partake in anti-party activity.
It was gathered that the well known Ukwamedua family in Issele-Azagba had engaged in anti party by supporting an Accord Party candidate, Mr. Fidel Onwodi, who lost woefully during the PDP primary election for the House of Assembly race and defected to Accord Party.
The said Paul Ukwamedua is said to have been gifted a car by the Accord Candidate to support his campaign.
It was reliably learnt that Mrs. Isichei, had often been threatened to face the Ukwamedua’s family’s wrath if she does not stop working for the PDP House of Assembly candidate, Hon. Nwaobi and start working for the Accord Party candidate.
However, she had bluntly refused, insisting that she can never be involved in anti party activities, not for any other party’s candidate nor for money.
This didn’t augur well with the political monopolistic family who felt that the woman was a threat to their heinous political dynasty, hence the public assault was intentionally meted out on her.
Narrating her ordeal on Sunday November 6th 2022, in a telephone conversation with The Story, Mrs. Isichei, explained that her sin was to throw her weight and mobilize massive support for the re-election of the incumbent member, Engr. Emeka Nwaobi, who is representing Aniocha North State Constituency in the House of Assembly.
According to her, “this is the time for politics and everybody is supporting his or her preferred candidate. I don’t know what happened between them, the Paul’s family and Engr. Nwaobi, they were working for him.
“The younger brother was the Vice Chairman of Aniocha north Council. When I came into the town newly, all of them were castigating Nwaobi and I was among who was writing against him but I have never met him based on what I have been hearing from people concerning him.
“Later now, I am a PDP member, our political platform/organization says we are not supposed to work for any party candidate that is not from PDP. So, I decided to work for all our party candidates. At a time, I started supporting Engr. Emeka Nwaobi, not knowing that they were not happy with what I was doing. I started seeing it in them gradually.
“Three weeks ago, Engr. Nwaobi sent his DG that I should carry out a project, called Oji Chukwu Buluzo Babes for him. So, I started organizing it and it started paining Paul and his family. So, Engr. Nwaobi came and our boys insulted him and I wasn’t pleased with the situation.
“Because I was the one handling the project. So, I was now looking for a way to bring the people close to him so that they can apologize. So, I mobilized them. I told him to give them a date, when they got to his office, what they saw made them realized that this man has been bringing empowerment but some people were hijacking it.
“They made up their minds to work for the man after they realized that what they were saying about the man wasn’t the truth. When the former Vice Chairman heard that I mobilized some people, that day they wanted to attend a function and my husband went to their house because we are the same family.
“He confronted my husband with anger, telling my husband that his wife took some people to see Hon. Nwaobi. He said why must I do that? That who authorized me and that he is going to fight me.
“When my husband told me, I was not happy but my husband said I should go and apologize but I refused. Politics, is interest, whoever you like, you support. But my husband said a word that it is someone who is alive that does politics.
“I, my husband and another person went to see him. He told me that I should stop working for Nwaobi and that I should work for Fidel Onwodi but I told him that I have gone far with Nwaobi, I can’t work for Accord”.
She claimed that Mr. Ukwamedua, put a call across to Mr. Fidel Onwodi, who didn’t pick the calls and later the DG was called, introducing me to them that I would work for them, ‘I was not comfortable because I was wondering that after building this structure for Nwaobi, I will now destroy it, it doesn’t make sense.
She was equally conditioned to stop writing any promotional article for Nwaobi, on the social media, the condition she said she could not come to terms with.
Speaking further, she hinted: “when I went home, I paused for sometime but I resumed writing again. This Paul Ukwamedua that assaulted me, called my husband on Friday night, threatening my husband that he is going to deal with me that I am going about telling people that Fidel gave him vehicle which everybody knew about.
“The vehicle is branded with Fidel picture and everybody in the town knew that they gave Paul a car. Why is he putting it on me? All these things are resulting into accumulated grudges the whole family is harbouring against me.
“I got angry and I said let me go to his younger brother’s wife shop because she is my co-wife and we are very close so that I can go and talk to her to help me beg Paul and his family to leave me alone and that it is not by force to support Fidel.
“Wwhen I got there, the woman was busy but I met one of their Uncles sitting outside, I started complaining to the man to help me talk to Paul. After I complained, I left. Before I knew someone was walking behind me, saying see me here, see the Paul here.
“And he started whipping me with his belt. When I turned, it was Paul and I asked him, what is wrong with you? But he continued flogging me with the belt and I raised my voice. So, people gathered.
“My husband equally came out of our house and they started fighting. He torn my husband’s clothes and he (Paul) started calling me names”, adding that she has reported the abuse to the police and have equally gone to the Federal Medical Center (FMC) for medical report.
Contacted to get the side of Mr. Paul Ukwamedua, on the purported assault on Mrs. Isichei, he said: “I don’t know what you are talking about”, before hanging up the call abruptly.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Edafe Bright, confirmed that the victim, Mrs. Isichei, has reported the case at the Onicha-Olona police station.
