HOW LONG EMEKA UGWUONYE STAYED IN DETENTION AND WHY.

Our members have shown concern about the length of time in detention. It is important to explain to our members how the system works.

First thing to understand is that the Nigerian police is the most corrupt and the most inept police force in Africa. They are also the most likely to violate the law or collude with criminals or commit crimes. With that in your mind, you can understand the following events that occurred in Emeka’s case.

(1) The Abuja police command was desperate to control the narrative in Chacha’s case so that they would cover up anybody, if need be. But DPA’S constant reporting on the case set them on a collision path with DPA and its leadership.

(2) Things got to a point where they decided to intimidate Emeka Ugwuonye . They filed a criminal charge against Emeka Ugwuonye in April claiming that Emeka defamed David Aiyedegbon(Charity’s husband). But their real anger was because Emeka criticized the police. We know this because on the corridors of the court in April, when the court granted bail to Emeka against the objections of the police, Adama, the police prosecutor threatened to rope Emeka into murder if he continued to criticize the police. Then in April, Jekwu had not been arrested.

(3) By October 2018, the conflict between DPA and the police had become escalated with the making of the Abattoir documentary. And the police had filed their 4th criminal charge against Emeka and no court was willing to detain Emeka as the police wanted.

(4) The police got tired of trying to go through the court. They filed a 5th and 6th criminal charge, this time at the FCT High Court on November 14, 2018. The 5th charge contained 10 counts of charges which are a repetition of the first 4 charges filed in the Magistrate courts. The 6th was a murder charge filed against Jekwu and Adogah, but which they added Emeka’s name to.

(5) They did not arrest Emeka on November 14th when they served these charges on him. They just hoped that once served, Emeka would become afraid and melt. But Emeka defied them and continued to criticize the police. So they had to silence him.

(6) On 26th Novemver, they arrested him and now detained him without bothering to take him to court. Their goal was simply to stop the things he is posting on DPA wall.

(7) They could not hold him indefinitely. They played with time. They knew he would likely be set free by court if arraigned. They decided to arraign him the day the  court was going on vacation.

The reason Emeka is spending Christmas and New Year in prison is simply because the court is on vacation and given the enormity of the bogus charges filed by the police and given that it is a short break, the best option was to wait for the court to resume sitting in January.

So, there was really nothing that could be done after the case was taken to court to avoid the delay in releasing Emeka. It was just the trick of a desperate police command.

There is a good side to this. The police has now given DPA a reason to demand to investigate all armed robbery and murder cases charged by the Nigerian police since this IG came to office.