In a Gestapo manner resplendent of the dark days of military jackboot, the Nigeria Police Force on Wednesday replicated those feet by ceasing a renowned Nigerian journalist, Mr. Madu Onuorah in front of his wife and children without an arrest warrant.
Onuorah, who is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Global Upfront Newspaper (Online), was said to have been whisked away by men of the Nigeria Police Force about 6 pm.
According to a family source, about 10 fully-armed policemen, with fierce-looking men stormed his residence in Lugbe, Abuja, loaded in two Sienna buses.
Efforts made by the wife to get an explanation from them or make them present a warrant of arrest fell on deaf ears as they shovelled her and the children aside, and took him away without a defined destination.
Immediately after he was arrested, they seized Onuorah’s phones, rendering him incommunicado and debarring family members, friends, and colleagues from reaching him.
Most appalling was denying him the opportunity to contact his lawyer, and relatives before taking him away to the Lugbe police station by the operatives.
Like a criminal, Onuorah was dumped in the police station as the operatives left no traces for friends and family members to contact him.
Disturbed by the management of Global Upfront Newspapers online, urged the police to unconditionally release him.
Madu Onuorah, before setting up Global Upfront online newspaper, was the former Abuja Bureau Chief of The Guardian Newspaper, and later, former Managing Director of The AUTHORITY Newspaper.
However, in a new twist, the Enugu Police Command in a statement by the spokesperson on Thursday gave reasons why Mr. Madu Onuorah was arrested in Abuja and handed over to the Enugu State Police Command for interrogation.
It was learnt that the Enugu State Police Command said that Madu Onuorah, was being held over an allegation of defamation by a Reverend Sister based in the United States.
It was learnt that Onuorah was arrested over a petition written by a Reverend Sister based in the United States to the Enugu State Commissioner of Police, who accused the journalist of defamation.
According to the Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, in the statement on Thursday, said Onuorah was arrested in Abuja by policemen from the Ebonyi State Police Command.
“The Enugu State Police Command receives several publications alleging the abduction of an Abuja-based online news publisher, one Madu Onuorah.
“The Command wishes to state that contrary to the allegations, he was duly arrested in Abuja with the assistance of police operatives from Ebonyi State Command and the aid of intelligence, after efforts made to formally invite him failed.
“Furthermore, his arrest was following the receipt of a written petition to the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, against him over an alleged defamatory publication he made against a US-based Reverend Sister.”
However, Ndukwe has disclosed that the Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu, has ordered a professional and discreet investigation and ensure that justice prevails.
Madu Onuorah, who grew through the ranks of being a professional journalist, came to the limelight as a Defence Correspondent of the Guardian newspaper before becoming the Abuja Bureau of the paper, was on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, whisked away by men of the Nigeria Police Force about 6 pm, in his Abuja residence.
One of his friends who spoke with our Correspondent anonymously decried police insensitivity in the arrest of the journalist.
Speaking in his Asokoro residence, he said, “What do the police think they are doing under a democracy? Even if Madu Onuorah has committed a grievous offence, should he be arrested by 10 policemen, held incommunicado as if he was a common criminal? Police shouldn’t dent the free speech democratic system guarantees and allow journalists to carry out their legitimate work.
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