Monarch, Police, Behind Our Incarceration, Legal Practitioner, Others Cry Out in Enugu
Linus Aleke in Abuja
A Lagos based senior lawyer, Vincent Okafor who was remanded in the facility of the Nigeria Correctional Service in Enugu by an Enugu Magistrate Court, has cried out, alleging that the police were being used by their traditional ruler of his town to witch-hunt him and two others over a petition they wrote against him to the Inspector General of Police.
Okafor bared his mind before another lawyer, Patrick Agazie who paid a legal visitation to the Enugu Correctional Centre, earlier in the week, to see him and two other detainees, Theophilus Chukwu and David Okeke.
Recounting his ordeal before his visiting colleague, the lagos lawyer said he was arrested, handcuffed like a common criminal, arraigned and remanded in prison on a concocted three-count charge, simply because he was rendering legal services to the two other detainees who were labelled unknown gunmen by the traditional ruler of their community.
The senior lawyer, said that Chukwu and Okeke were arrested on an allegation that they gave false information to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), which was not true.
According to him, Theophilus Chukwu was arrested on May 6, 2024 in Abuja by men of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), Nathaniel Bitrus and Ayuba Sunday and was charged for conspiracy and giving the police false information.
He said Chukwu was arraigned in court and remanded in Enugu Correctional Centre for three months, but released on August 13, only to be re-arrested at the gate of the correctional facility by men of the D9 State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Enugu.
He further explained: “The Investigating Police Officer (IPO), charged him for instigating local war and pursuing the monarch with dangerous weapon, such as guns, cutlasses and others. He was also charged for cyber stalking.
“David Okeke was arrested on the 18th of May in Enugu and he has not been arraigned in any court. He has been in prison for three months without any arraignment, he explained”.
Asked what gave rise to the false information by his visiting colleagues, he said: “What gave rise to the false information was a petition that we wrote to the Inspector General of Police, against the Igwe. In the petition, we described the monarch as self-styled monarch. It was stated that he was an alleged serial arsonist and that he tagged the men unknown gunmen.In a video, he alleged that he burnt down one man’s car in Aroma junction, before the Governor of Anambra State stopped him”.
It was however, learnt that the IGP assigned the petition to the FIB. The police, was however alleged to have refused to pay serious attention to the petition. Rather, the petitioners were told to go and reconcile with monarch.
Mirroring down to his own arrest while conversing with the visiting lawyer friend, Okafor said without any prior invitation by the police, he was arrested on September 5, 2024 from his office at 36 Ibezim-Obiajulu Street, Surulere Lagos and taken to Panti.
He further narrated that he was brought out from Panti by 6.am in the morning the next day and the investigating police officer, from D9 State CID Enugu gave him a paper to write a statement.
According to him, “I asked for the petition against me. They gave me a faint copy of the petition and a voice note that they claimed I made. I told them that I was not composed enough to write a statement. We left Lagos around 1 pm and arrived at Enugu by 2.pm. I was taken on handcuff like a common criminal to the State CID. There, I requested for a paper to write a statement but they refused. Their head said that they should just say that I refused to write a statement.
“They took me to Enugu Magistrate Court 1, and I was fettered. My handcuff was removed in the dock. I was charged for an offence they said was committed in Agunese Mmaku on the 13th day of August, 2024 and the court remanded me in Prison”.
“Unfortunately, on the day they said the offense was committed, I was before the Lagos Magistrate Court in Charge No.-M/044/2024 between COP Vs. Odinaka Orji. The last time that I was in the village was on June 28, for the burial of my late Uncle’s wife. Since then, I have never visited the village,” he further told his visitors.
He maintained that the police officers in D9 were being used to victimize them, adding that he learnt that another petition had been written against them.
He added that, “They plan to re-arrest me as soon as I come out from detention, the same way that they re-arrested Theo at the gate of Enugu Correctional Centre after his release on August 13, re-arraigned and sent back to prison.”
He, however, appealed to the Inspector General of police Kayode Egbetokun and his force management to set up an independent investigative panel to examine his incarceration to allow justice to take its full course.
