Awka
The Anambra Police Command has arrested one Mr Chude and is currently holding him at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Awka over allegation of cybercrime.
Suspected thugs of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the ruling party in Anambra state, were said to have invaded multiple polling units in Onitsha, while the state’s House of Assembly elections were underway on Saturday.
According to Mr Chude, who said he witnessed the incident and described it on his Twitter page, the thugs snatched the ballot boxes to disrupt the voting process out of desperation that APGA candidates might lose to Labour Party opponents in the state parliamentary elections, similar to what happened in the presidential polls.
He wrote; “#Breaking: APGA thugs are on rampage in Trans-Nkisi, 3’3 & Awada snatching ballot box. LP is winning comfortably across Anambra,” Mr Chude tweeted at 4:12 pm. Saturday afternoon.”
Mr Chude, then, 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.
“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,” Mr Chude added.
It was gathered that around 5:30 pm, security operatives swiftly picked up Mr Chude from Onitsha and transported him to Awka’s SCID, where he is being detained on cybercrime charges, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Soludo, Christian Aburime had on Sunday night confirmed Chude’s arrest in a statement.
He said his principal, Soludo has also been notified but denied the government having any information on the whole episode.
His statement read; “The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Police Command has confirmed to the Governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo, that one Mr Nnamdi Chude was arrested on Saturday (18/03/23) in Anambra by the Cyber Crime Unit of Interpol and taken to Abuja on Sunday (19/03/23).
“Anambra State Government has no information about any specific allegations or basis of his arrest.”
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.”
