Sources told SaharaReporters that the police had arranged for the activist to be remanded in prison immediately after his arraignment.
The police on Thursday took Mr. Uchenna Mojekwu, a civil rights activist and Secretary of the Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN), to the Chief Magistrate Court 1 in Makurdi for arraignment.
Sources told SaharaReporters that the police had arranged for the activist to be remanded in prison immediately after his arraignment.
SaharaReporters reported on Wednesday that the newly deployed Commissioner of Police in Benue State, Mr. Yabaneth Steve Hassan on Tuesday night detained Mojekwu over a petition written against Dr. Dennis Akura, the Special Adviser to Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, on Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
In February 2024, the GICN, through Mojekwu, submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), detailing how the government of Alia, through his aide, Akura, allegedly authorised and withdrew over N20 billion from the Benue local government accounts, attaching letters signed by council chairmen and directors as evidence.
The anti-corruption group also submitted a copy of the petition to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the House Committee on Public Petitions, inviting various agencies to investigate the allegation.
Sources told SaharaReporters that Mojekwu was taken to Chief Magistrate Court 1 on Thursday.
“And they have made arrangements for him to be remanded in prison immediately,” one of the sources said. “A Black Maria from the correctional services is already situated on the court premises to move him. Kelvin Mbanongun Esq. is the Chief Magistrate sitting at the Chief Magistrate Court 1 in Makurdi.”
“Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is waiting for them to come and adopt the petition so that its investigation will commence,” another source said.
SaharaReporters reported on Wednesday that the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions on February 27, 2024, summoned Akura to answer questions concerning the said N20 billion allegedly missing.
The fund was reportedly part of the federal allocations to the 23 local government areas in Benue State.
However, the invitation was reportedly turned down by the governor’s aide.
The EFCC reportedly transferred the petition to its Makurdi zonal office and invited the group to adopt the petition. It was learnt that Akura, on the other hand, rather than allowing a full investigation into the allegation, opted to write to the police authorities in Benue State to arrest the petitioners.
It was gathered that a Deputy Commissioner of Police in Benue also wrote to the petitioners, inviting them for questioning, while the EFCC was still waiting for the petition to be adopted.
Speaking, the Chairman of BoT/President of GICN, Barrister Edward Omaga, said Mojekwu honoured the police invitation in company with other officials of GICN to defend allegations of conspiracy, criminal defamation and cyberstalking levelled against him by the Special Adviser to Alia, Akura before he was detained on Tuesday night, on the orders of the police commissioner, Hassan.
Omaga vowed that the group would not fold its hands and “allow the Benue State Government to have their way through the police”, alluding that the detention of the GICN Secretary was a plot to suppress the investigation that the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies were about to start.
The group has called on President Bola Tinubu and the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to intervene in the matter to ensure that the fundamental human rights of Mr. Mojekwu are not breached by Akura and the Benue State government.