Detention Of Anambra ‘Activist’ Okonkwo Not Instigated By Emeka Offor— Police

The detained Anambra activist, Bonny Okonkwo, is being investigated over an alleged character defamation and not instigated, the state police command clarified on Sunday.

The command, through its Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, was reacting to an alleged claim of Okonkwo’s lawyer that the suspect was arrested at the instigation of Sir Emeka Offor’.

Ikenga described the lawyer’s claims as ‘pedestrian’, acknowledging that ‘police need not be instigated to do their job’.

Quoting him, “A citizen against whom a crime is committed has the right to complain to appropriate authorities, and the police are mandated by the constitution to investigate such crime.

“Due process was followed in the arrest and detention of the offender for thorough investigations. Even while in detention, he persisted in his crime through the use of an electronic device until he was properly searched and denied use of the gadget. His detention was on the order of the court. It is, therefore, both legal and proper.”

Ikenga urged the public “not to be swayed by propaganda being unleashed by his counsel to gain sympathy.”

He explained further that the lawyer had claimed his client “merely criticized the complainant, yet admitted that his client published on a social media space that the Meter Manufacturing Company commissioned by the Vice President at Oraifite, an event witnessed by many dignitaries from all walks of life, was an empty warehouse decorated to deceive the people!”

The PPRO continued, “The police are about to conclude investigations, and the suspect will be arraigned before the court, which has the singular duty to determine guilt.

“Anambra State Police Command will never infringe on the rights of the citizens but will never shy away from bringing to accounts those who break the law in accordance with provisions of the constitution and other relevant laws”