I feared for my life after police arrested me over WhatsApp post — UNILORIN lecturer

It was a harrowing, disturbing, and embarrassing experience. It started with a knock on my gate at about 5 am. My wife responded, and a woman asked to see her. My wife told her it was too early and asked if she wanted to buy something from the shop. She said no, that she wanted to see her.

The knocking continued, and I noticed that it was no longer just one person. As the man of the house, I stepped out. The woman then said she was actually looking for me and that her boss wanted to see me.

A man among the policemen showed me an identity card and told me they were policemen from the Kogi State Command, and that I was under arrest. I asked what my offence was, but he said they would tell me when I followed them to the command.

As a law-abiding citizen, I opened my gate. Two of them came in, and I demanded to see the warrant of arrest. They said the warrant had been deposited at the state command and that I would be shown it when we got there.

Did you agree to go with them?

Initially, I drove my car behind them because they said they were taking me to the command. We got to an office in Eyenkorin very early in the morning and there was nobody there. They made some calls but nobody came.

I told them I would not go any further until I saw the warrant. I also spoke with my lawyer, who advised me to insist on seeing it and said he would meet me at the state headquarters.

Eventually, they told me the warrant would be shown to me at the state headquarters. I trusted their word and joined them in their vehicle because my lawyer was already on his way there.

But when we got to a point, instead of going towards the police headquarters, they diverted towards Kogi State.

I told them, “This is not what you said.” They said they had decided to take me to Kogi. At that point, I knew I had been taken away under false pretences. I felt I had been kidnapped.

What did you do when you realised you were being taken somewhere else?

I sent messages to two or three close associates, asking them to announce to the world that Commander Jerry Omodara had ordered my arrest.

I was very worried because I did not know where they were taking me. I eventually got to Lokoja and was served with a copy of the petition against me.

What was contained in the petition?

It was about a WhatsApp post I made on our community platform concerning the Kabba-Okehi-Oleluke road. The road had been in a deplorable condition for more than 10 years.

I had reported on the platform that I was reliably informed by an MD of a Federal Government agency that the World Bank had approved the road project and that it was facilitated by James Faleke, with the state government expected to provide counterpart funding. That was the information I shared.

Why did that post become a police matter?

After the post, the Special Adviser to the Kogi State Governor on Security, Jerry Omodara, responded and asked that I take it down. He said if I did not, the court would talk to me. I told him that he was free to approach the court if he believed I had committed an offence.

The petition alleged that I had committed cybercrime by giving people wrong information about the source of funding for the road and asked the police to apprehend me and charge me to court.

I was shocked because I believed I had merely shared information I received from a source and information that had also appeared on blogs.

Did you eventually retract the post?

Yes, but that happened under circumstances I consider coercive. While I was in police custody, I was told that signing a retraction was a condition for my bail. Initially, I refused because I did not believe I had done anything wrong.

But around that time, I learnt about the deaths of the miners in the Civil Defence cell in Minna. That frightened me because I was already in police custody in another state and did not know what could happen to me.

I was afraid for my life. I did not want to spend another minute in the cell, so I signed the retraction to secure my release. I want to make it clear that the retraction was obtained under duress. It was made a condition for my release.

What was the reaction of your family when eight policemen came to your house at 5 am?

It was traumatic. Imagine eight policemen coming to your house at 5 am to arrest you. My wife was the first person who encountered them because she responded to the knock.

Initially, she thought it was somebody who wanted to see her or perhaps buy something from the shop. It was only after the knocking persisted that I came out.

I cannot imagine what was going through her mind when she realised that the people at the gate were policemen who had come to arrest me.

For me, the most troubling part was that I was not taken away openly. I was told one thing and then taken somewhere else.