A senior Nigerian journalist has accused police officers in Anambra State of unlawfully arresting and detaining him, his wife and their two underage children for 10 hours, allegedly forcing him to pay ₦150,000 in what he described as extortionary “bail” before they were released.
Jude Egbas, deputy editor of TheCable, said operatives attached to the Otolo Nnewi Divisional Police Headquarters arrested his entire family on Sunday, December 28, 2025, following what he described as a domestic dispute within his wife’s extended family.
According to Egbas, he, his wife Ogechukwu Chukwujekwu, their children—Munachukwu, 13, and Adela, three—and a caregiver were bundled into a police van, beaten, verbally abused and held without food, water or access to their phones until payment was made.
Read Also: “So I Can Collect Money”: Child’s viral joke lays bare Nigeria’s police corruption crisis
The journalist said the incident occurred in Ndiakwu Otolo Community, Nnewi North Local Government Area, where he had travelled to spend Christmas with his wife’s relatives.
Egbas recounted that the situation began in the early hours of the day when a heated argument broke out between his wife and her uncle, Collins Okechukwu Anya, a U.S.-based relative visiting Nigeria. The disagreement, he said, escalated into physical violence when Anya allegedly slapped his wife twice during a quarrel over an alternative power supply arrangement in the house.
He said other family members attempted to intervene as tempers flared, adding that his wife damaged a television in self-defence during the scuffle—an act he said further inflamed tensions that should have been resolved privately within the family.
Ogechukwu Chukwujekwu later told TheCable that the uncle had a history of physically assaulting her, citing a similar incident during Christmas 2023 when he and another relative allegedly beat her.
Following the altercation, Egbas said Anya contacted members of a local vigilante group, Agunechemba, who stormed the compound. Attempts to explain that the incident was a family dispute failed, he said, as the vigilantes allegedly began beating occupants of the house indiscriminately.
Egbas said his wife’s younger sister was slapped, stripped of her clothing and humiliated, while he was assaulted after protesting the treatment of women. He alleged that vigilantes pointed a gun at him during the confrontation.
As the family attempted to leave the premises for safety, police officers from the Otolo Nnewi Division arrived at the scene. Egbas said the situation deteriorated further.
He alleged that the police team, led by a superintendent of police identified as Onyebuchi Isiwekpeni, arrested him and his family on instructions, dragging him into a police van “like a common criminal” while officers allegedly beat his wife and threw his children into the vehicle.
Egbas said their phones were seized and that his three-year-old cried throughout the journey to the station.
At the station, he said he tried to explain that the matter was a family dispute and identified himself as a journalist. He alleged that the officer in charge responded with insults, ridiculed journalism as a “useless profession,” and verbally abused his wife, including slut-shaming her.
For 10 hours, Egbas said the family was held behind the station counter without food or water, as officers demanded money for their release.
He said he was initially asked to pay ₦220,000, which was later reduced to ₦150,000 after prolonged pleading. With night approaching and threats of detention in police cells, he said he had no choice but to comply.
Because officers allegedly refused bank transfers, Egbas said he was allowed to leave the station briefly to withdraw cash, which he returned in a black polythene bag. He said officers still compelled him and his wife to write statements and an undertaking before counting the money and releasing the family.
When contacted, Anambra State Police spokesperson Tochukwu Ikenga told TheCable that the journalist should submit a formal complaint, adding: “You can do the story and then we would react.”
Nigeria Police Force spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin similarly directed the paper back to the state command and, when informed of Ikenga’s response, reportedly said: “Do the story, sir.”
That frustration was echoed recently in a viral video of a young Nigerian girl who, when asked what she wanted to become in the future, replied that she wanted to be a police officer “so I can block the road and collect money from keke riders.” While the remark drew laughter, many Nigerians described it as an unfiltered reflection of everyday encounters with law enforcement.
Across highways and city streets, commercial drivers and commuters frequently complain of being stopped repeatedly at checkpoints and forced to pay unofficial fees to avoid harassment or arrest. Rights groups say such practices are rarely punished and have become deeply normalised.
Analysts warn that the danger lies not only in corruption itself, but in how early citizens internalise it.
“If children already see police as toll collectors rather than protectors,” a civil society advocate said, “then public trust in the state is already broken.”
As insecurity worsens nationwide, critics argue that systemic police misconduct continues to undermine confidence in law enforcement—leaving official warnings hollow and accountability elusive.
