Alex Ikwechegh, a member of the House of Representatives, on Sunday, slapped a Bolt driver more than two times, called him a “monkey” among other insults and threatened to make him “disappear” over a grouse that was captured in footage that has now gone viral.
Stephen Abuwatseya had arrived at Mr Ikwechegh’s residence in Maitama, Abuja to deliver a package when the recipient (the lawmaker) asked him to come inside his house to drop the package but the driver declined.
Mr Ikwechegh became furious over what he considered disrespect and refused to pay for delivery, according to the Bolt’s driver’s account of the matter. He came out of his compound to assault the Bolt driver, hurling all forms of insults at the man.
The video, captured by Mr Abuwatseya, showed the legislator charging at him and hitting him severally across the face. Unperturbed that he was being filmed, Mr Ikwechegh asked the lawmaker to show the footage to the Inspector General of Police, claiming that no action would be taken against him.
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He further threatened to make him disappear.
“Do you know who I am? I can make this man (driver) disappear in the whole of Nigeria and nothing will happen, bellowed Mr Ikwechegh. “Can you imagine this rat? I am not going to give this boy one naira of my money.”
Mr Ikwechegh said he will not instruct his police aides to beat up the man as he would rather do that by himself.
“I am not going to call my policemen to beat you up, I will do that myself. I will show that I am a big brother to you, tie you up, lie you down and put you in my generator house. Do you know where you are? Because you saw me sitting outside here. Look at this monkey,” the lawmaker said as he rained insults on the Bolt driver.
The legislator representing Aba North & South Federal Constituency and member of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) party admitted to slapping the driver and dared him to retaliate.
“Do you know who I am? I just slapped you and there’s nothing you will do. My name is Honourable Alex Ikwechegh, tell them (public) I slapped you. Call the Inspector General of Police that I slapped you, let him come. Record me very well,” he bragged.
The matter has since been escalated to the police and a statement by FCT Police spokesperson said the security office will take a decisive action about the assault.
The incident underscores the challenges faced by drivers of e-hailing apps like Bolt, Uber and In-Drive on a day-to-day basis.
The tribunal judgement that sacked Nnamani and favoured Alex Ikwechegh
Mr Ikwechegh acceded to the legislator position shortly after Justice Adeyinka Aderibigbe of the National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sacked Emeka Nnamani of Labour Party over allegations of certificate forgery and ordered that the candidate (Mr Ikwechegh) with the second highest votes replace him at the lower chambers.
The judgement, which paved the way for Mr Ikwechegh’s rise to the House of Representatives, was issued in September 2023.