TheCapital

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Saturday said he was not beaten up by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra in Madrid, Spain.

Amaechi stated that claims made by the group that he was beaten up in Madrid were lies and should be ignored.

In a statement made available to our correspondent by his aide in Abuja, the minister said, “We read with utter disgust and disdain the sickening propagandist lies credited to one Emma Powerful, who claims to be the spokesperson of IPOB that IPOB members in Madrid, Spain physically assaulted Amaechi. That is not true.

“We must clarify that in the incident of the attack yesterday on the minister in Madrid, where Amaechi was part of the official Nigerian government delegation to the United Nations climate change conference, IPOB members did not ‘beat’, physically assault or cause any bodily harm to the minister.”

The statement, which was signed by the Amaechi, explained that the IPOB members charged towards and at the minister during the attack, apparently to beat the former Rivers State governor but could not.

“But their violent evil plot failed woefully due to the dexterity of Amaechi to resist them, protect and defend himself, and the prompt intervention of the Spanish police who repelled the motley crowd of misguided attackers,” it stated.

It added, “Even the video circulated online by the attackers confirmed this much. Everyone could clearly hear one of them shouting, ‘we didn’t get him…’ expressing his frustrations of their inability to get and ‘beat’ the minister.”

Amaechi commended the Spanish police in Madrid for their timely intervention to protect him and their investigation of the attack and attempt on the life of the minister in Spanish territory.