Aba South Council Boss, Deputy on war path over sexual harassment

Chairman of Aba South Local government Area of Abia State, Hon. Clinton Emmanuel Ebere, has been enmeshed in a sex scandal with his Deputy, Hon. Princess Peace Nwobilo.

Nwobilo is accusing the Chairman of sexually harassing her.

The Deputy Chairman, in a 3 page petition she addressed to Stakeholders of Aba South LGA, titled “Sexual Harassment and abuse of office conduct”, alleged that the chairman had on several occasions, forcefully tried to have sexual intercourse with her. She however stated that it was by the grace of God that she escaped all his traps.

However, the Chairman denied the allegations, accusing his deputy of being economical with the truth.  The Chairman did not keep his promise to speak further on the matter when contacted.

Pointblanknews.com gathered that the Aba South LGA stakeholders had set up a Committee over the allegation.  The Committee was said to have returned a ‘not guilty verdict’, on the basis that the allegations are false.  However, in her petition, the deputy Chairman alleged that her boss on two occasions, made efforts to rape her, but ‘she escaped through the grace of God.’

“The chairman, Hon. Clinton Ebere attempt to rape me was after we were sworn in, precisely on January 14th, 2021when he invited me over for a meeting at Trace Garden Hotel, Brass Street, Aba. On getting to the hotel, I called him and he directed me to a room for the supposed meeting. I thought he invited some other people for the same meeting and sat in the room for 30 to 40 minutes, so I called some people to confirm if they are among the said meeting and no one confirmed that there was any meeting.

“So he came and banged the door, brought out an A4 plain sheet and a green pen and told me that he wanted us to discuss how to run the council. He also said that the Aba south LGA is wealthy and that we would be rich if only I would agree. I smiled because I was not yet sure of the reason why he invited me. But as a loyal and humble deputy, I waited patiently in order to give him some benefit of doubt, not until he started touching me. I quietly removed his hands from my laps and told him that I am a responsible woman and a very decent mother and a Christian.

“And he replied that he is also a Christian and will even open his own Ministry after our tenure. I stood up to leave the room and he pushed me towards the bed and attempted to drag my skirt, I ran towards the door and he dragged my hand bag, which resulted in its handle getting cut. I got angry and started beating him until I was able to escape from the room. While at the door, I scolded him, and he vowed that he would make sure that I did not enjoy my stay with him, that he would frustrate me, and that I would go home empty handed after our tenure, and threatened to ensure that I am removed as his deputy.”

The Deputy Chairman also alleged that Ebere had on the eve of the governorship primary in 2018, tricked her to his house in Umuahia where he attempted to rape her.

“All statutory delegates were attached to a hotel and when I got to my hotel, I found out that two or three persons shared a room which was not convenient for me. I approached him to know if he could help as my boss to organize a room for me, and that I was ready to pay, because he is the leader of the Aba South LGA delegation.

“He told me not to worry that he has some available rooms in a hotel close to where we were, that had not been occupied by anyone. When he took me there, I asked him how much and he responded that I should not worry as he will pay when we get there. But I was embarrassed that he took me to his private house and I refused to come out of the car. He said we should wait for his driver to get the receipts of the rooms he booked, that they forgot it at the Speaker’s residence. I called a few people and told them about my location at that moment. We came down and he tried to rape which got me shouting and fighting him. This led to a serious fight between us and I managed to run into one of the available rooms for safety.

“Early in the morning when I was about to leave his house, he begged me not to tell anyone and issued me with a post-dated cheque to cash on the 4th of October 2018 and I accepted that cheque as a proof, and left his house, boarded a taxi and went back to the hotel. Since after that time, he has been on my neck, but I thought he has forgotten or changed from that attitude, which was the reason why I did not complain earlier before our elections.”

Sources at the Aba South LGA headquarters accused the Deputy Chairman of wanting to impeach the council chairman and take over.

However, Pointblanknews.com gathered that the state government had set up a committee to sit over the  alleged complaints of sexual harassment and sundry allegations against the Council chairman.