The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has ignored multiple calls for the release of Chike Ibezim, an Anambra State indigene, as ordered by the Federal High Court, Abuja.
FIJ called Muyiwa Adejobi, the NPF’s public relations officer, to respond to the court’s order on Thursday but his phone was not reachable. Josephine Adeh, Federal Capital Territory police public relations officer’s phone was also unreachable, and she failed to acknowledge texts from FIJ.
The NPF arrested Ibezim, a relative of the online blog Reportera’s publisher, on August 10. The police claimed Ibezim’s phone was the registered mobile device used to post Reportera’s publication on Babatunde Fashola, Nigeria’s former minister of works and power, getting involved in the presidential election petition tribunal’s judgment.
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Ibezim agreed that he owned the said registered mobile device but he denied ownership or control of Reportera. He claimed that his brother was the publisher of Reportera.
The NPF released two statements in September claiming that Ibezim’s detention was not illegal.
“Mr. Chike is in lawful custody based on a court order, and his detention is in connection with a prima facie case of malicious publication, cyberbullying, and other related offences that are still under investigation by the Police. The arrest and detention of individuals are carried out in strict adherence to legal procedures and respect for individual rights,” Adejobi stated on September 3.
“In this case, a court order was obtained following a thorough investigation, which established an indictment on Mr Chike, who has given useful information and is assisting the Police in the course of their investigation.”
Two days later, Adejobi signed another statement on behalf of the NPF which confirmed Fashola’s role in Ibezim’s arrest.
“Following a report from Priory Terrace Solicitors on behalf of Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, CON, against one Nnamdi Emmanuel Ibezim, Police Investigators from the Force Intelligence Bureau carried out intensive investigations into the complaint and discovered that the suspect made a false publication on his handle – @ReporteraNewson the social media platform ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) on Saturday 5th August, 2023, alleging that the complainant was involved in the drafting of a controversial verdict in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and that the military have been deployed to his residence to restrict movement thereby intending to cast aspersion on the person of the former Minister, contrary to Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015, which has the potential to cause harm, distress, and damage to his reputation, as well as posing great threats to national security and stability of our dear country. Further investigations to wit technical and tactical analysis into the phone number used for making the publication in question, it was discovered that it is registered to one Chike Ibezim,” the statement read in part.
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Adejobi’s statement on the lawfulness of Ibezim’s detention in September was false. A high court had ordered the police to release or charge him in a court days before that statement.
On August 30, Justice Adelaja of the FCT High Court in Kubwa, Abuja, ordered the NPF to either release Ibezim or charge him in a court with immediate effect.
The NPF simply refused to comply with the 30 August order of the court. K. Okafor, Ibezim’s lawyer, appeared before Justice Adelaja on September 9 to inform her of the NPF’s statement.
Justice Adelaja said that her earlier order was “in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria with particular reference to section 35(4) and 35(5) of that constitution.
“The respondents (the police) are mandated to obey the order of this court granted on 30 August 2023,” the judge said. She also said that in the event they failed to comply with the order, Mr Ibezim’s lawyer was “free to take the necessary enforcement procedural steps”.
The post Despite Court Orders to Release Chike Ibezim, Police Keep Him in Custody Over Report on Fashola appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.