WHISTLE-BLOWER!
Corp Member Who Exposed Killer
Cop Has Spent Over A Year In Prison Despite Being Granted Bail
Nnamdi was arrested in March 2023 and was arraigned and granted bail by a Federal High Court in May of that year. FIJ learned that he perfected the bail conditions in May 2024 but has yet to be released.
John
Kanu Emeh, Nnamdi’s father, told FIJ
that he was deployed by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to the Rapid
Response Squad Annex, Akwuzu, for his mandatory one-year service scheme, where
he served before his arrest.
“My son is an IT specialist who specialised
in tracking high-profile criminals and served with a branch of the Anambra
Police Command at Akwuzu before his arrest,” the father said.
FIJ learned that Nnamdi was arrested in relation to at blog post published by Gistlover, a popular blog, accusing Patrick Agbazue, an Anambra police officer, of extorting, abducting, killing people and harvesting their organs.
The blog post also
accused Agbazue of depositing the dead bodies of his victims in New World
Mortuary, Nteje, a private morgue situated in Anambra.
Patrick
Agbazue was arrested by the Police Service Commission (PSC) after an investigation into
allegations of misconduct, inhumane treatment, torture and illegal detention of
citizens in Anambra. He was also transferred to Abuja. Some sources claim Agbazue regained his freedom two days
after his arrest.
Usman
Alkali Baba, Inspector-General of Police at the time, also constituted a panel
to investigate the allegations against Agbazue. However, there has been no word
from the panel since it was set up in February 2023.
FIJ discovered the blog post had no by-line, yet the police accused
him of being the mastermind behind the popular blog.
“They wanted to kill him because he had
divulged the atrocities going on in RRS Akwuzu. They started haunting him down
to kill him, and when he noticed that they wanted to kill him, he started
running for his life until he was arrested,” John told FIJ.
Nnamdi was declared wanted by the police for impersonating an Assistant Superintendent of Police in Anambra on February 3, 2023. In March that year, he was arrested.
Two
months after his arrest, Nnamdi was arraigned in the Federal High Court in
Awka, the capital of Anambra. The Nigerian Police Force filed 12 charges
against him, including possession of firearms, money laundering, defamation of
character, hacking into one Chibuike Martins Ekwueme’s bank account and
transferring the sum of N47 million into another account.
His arrest
and incarceration have attracted reactions and have been condemned by civil
society organisations (CSOs). In April 2023, a coalition of CSOs urged the police to release him. The Human
Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) also accused the police of
attempting to cover up the criminal activities of Agbazue.
John
told FIJ that the family had met the
bail conditions, but every attempt to release him on bail had been blocked by
the police.
“We have been trying to secure his freedom
since then. The judge signed the release warrant for Nnamdi on May 15, 2024,
but to our greatest shock, the police appeared on May 16 and filed an ex parte
motion for a stay of execution of the released warrant,” said John.
“The lawyer is trying to resolve the
impasse. This is just an example of how the police have been frustrating
efforts to bail Nnamdi since May last year.”
He
added that Nnamdi was transferred to Agusta Prison from Onitsha Prison on June
1 and put in solitary confinement.
“The charges against Nnamdi do not include
murder, armed robbery, arson or terrorism, and that was why he was granted
bail. The police should know that everyone is presumed innocent until proven
guilty. The police should allow him to enjoy his bail,” his father said.
When
Anthony Ikenganyia, the Anambra Police Command PRO was contacted, he said he
was constrained to comment.
“I am constrained to make a comment on this
because the case is before the court,” he was quoted to have said.
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