By Adadareporters
The Anambra State Police Command, Sunday, said one Bonny Okonkwo, an acclaimed activist, currently in its custody was arrested and being investigated over an alleged criminal defamation.
The command was reacting to an alleged claims of Okonkwo’s lawyer that the suspect ‘was arrested at the instigation of Sir Emeka Offor’. The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, in a release, described the lawyer’s claims as ‘pedestrian’, adding that ‘police need not be instigated to do their job’.
According to 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 stated that, “In one breath he claimed his client merely criticized the complainant, yet he 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! How more destructive can an activist be?
“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 enactments.”
