By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Governor of Anambra State, South East Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo has ordered the arrest of a Labour Party supporter, Nnamdi Chude for likening his government to that of a former governor of the state, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, who was criticized for abuse of human rights in the state.
Reliable sources said Mr Chude is currently being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Awka on allegation bordering on cybercrime.
Chude in a tweet had likened Mr Soludo’s inability to stop election violence in the state to that of his distant predecessor, Mr Mbadinuju, whose tenure witnessed a surge in brazen crimes and blatant disregard for the rule of law.
Anambra was one of the 36 states of the federation where state assembly elections took place and thugs believed to have the backing of the state government were accused of invading multiple polling units during the polls on Saturday.
The thugs had made away with ballot boxes to disrupt the voting process out of desperation that APGA candidates might lose to Labour Party opponents in the state parliamentary elections.
Chude who witnessed the incident wrote on his Twitter handle at 4:12pm on Saturday, “#Breaking: APGA thugs are on rampage in Trans-Nkisi, 3’3 & Awada snatching ballot box. LP is winning comfortably across Anambra”.
He added, “I can’t remember the last time I heard of ballot box snatching in Anambra. this is the height of it,@CCSoludo has taken us back to Mbadinauju’s era”.
Little above an hour later, security operatives suspected to be acting on the governor’s instruction, swiftly picked up Mr Chude from Onitsha and took him to Awka’s SCID where he is being detained on cybercrime charges, the source stated.
Section 24 of the Cybercrime Act 2015, signed by former president Goodluck Jonathan, has been politically weaponised by many Nigerian leaders and elites who cite it to arrest dissenting voices and critics.
The section criminalises the use of a computer or network for any person to intentionally send a message “he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another.”
Anambra State Police Command is yet to release an official statement to that effect.
