On October 28, 2024, a viral video circulating on social media captured the moment a federal legislator, Alex Ikwechegh, brutalized an e-hailing driver, Stephen Abuwatseya, who went to his Abuja apartment for delivery.
The lawmaker reportedly slapped the driver three times and insulted him for asking him to come to his car to collect what he (the driver) was there to deliver.
Alex, a member of the House of Representatives, reportedly threatened to make the driver disappear from Nigeria, claiming that nothing would happen if he did. The lawmaker also allegedly shattered the driver’s phone and tore his clothes for disrespecting him.
Rights groups, as well as other Nigerians, including human interest lawyers, criticized the incident and urged that Abia legislator Alex Ikwechegh be arrested and prosecuted.
Barely 12 hours after the video went viral, the Nigeria Police Force arrested the lawmaker and advised the people not to use the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun’s name or office to intimidate others. They also stated that the incident is under investigated.
In a press statement issued on Monday, the lawmaker publicly apologized for attacking Stephen Abuwatseya, an Abuja e-hailing driver who brought a gift to him at his apartment in Abuja on Sunday. He also described his actions as disgraceful.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives announced an investigation into Alex Ikwechegh, a member representing Aba South/Aba North Federal Constituency, who was arrested and questioned for assaulting Uber driver Stephen Abuwatseya.
Alex Ikwechegh, a House of Representatives member representing Aba North and South, was granted bail of ₦500,000 by a Kuje Magistrates‘ Court on Wednesday.
WITHIN NIGERIA learnt that Ikwechegh was charged with three counts of abuse of office, assault, and threat to life after the Inspector General of Police alleged that he assaulted a Bolt driver, Stephen Abuwatseya, outside his Abuja home.
Here are 13 things you probably didn’t know about Alex Ikwechegh, the federal lawmaker who slapped a Bolt driver:
- Alex Ifeanyi Mascot Ikwechegh is Nigerian politician and businessman
- He is a native of Igbere, Bende Local Government Area, Abia State, Nigeria
- His father, Mascot Ukandu Ikwechegh was a businessman.
- His mother, Eunice Uzaru Ikwechegh was a trader.
- He attended Constitution Crescent School, Abia State for his primary education.
- He attended to Hope Waddell Training Institution for his secondary education
- He graduated with a degree in business management from the University of Calabar.
- He is a former Local Government Chairman in Aba North, Abia State, Nigeria.
- He established the Alex Ikwechegh Foundation, which provides educational support and relief items to Nigeria’s underprivileged and victims of social, artificial, and natural calamities.
- Ikwechegh received a chieftaincy title as Nkuma Dike Igbo Amaghi by Eze Igbo Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria
- In 2018, he received the Ndigbo Times Merit Award.
- In October 2024, Ikwechegh was arrested by the Nigerian police for allegedly assaulting a Bolt driver in Abuja while refusing to pay for a delivery service.
- He also threatened to make the Bolt driver disappear from the entire Nigeria and nothing would happen.