Even as the family of a staff of Imo Broadcasting Corporation, IBC, named Casmir Uzomah are yet to secure his release, Trumpeta can reveal that there are intricacies surrounding his continued detention by a government security agency in the state after the reported airing of a music by the state owned radio station considered to be highly offensive to the image of the state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma.
Uzomah has spent two months in detention and possibly of release unknown after he was reportedly picked on August 4th this year by security operatives.
Rumpus erupted in the IBC, Owerri, when suddenly, a surprised recorded music believed to be offensive to the state governor found its way into the station’s studio and was aired to the listening public before it was cut off air.
Authorities of the state who felt offended and acting on suspicion of sabotage swiftly moved into action to investigate how such unorthodox recorded material was not only brought into the studio but also given airtime to be heard by the public through the state media outfit under the governor.
Heads were to roll in the government parastatal as top brass officials of the IBC were apprehended before Uzomah was spotted as the staff on duty when the music was aired.
Trumpeta learnt that the suspect was invited by a security agency in the state where in-depth investigation is ongoing to unravel circumstances surrounding the whole matter. He is yet to be released based on alarm raised by the family members especially the wife who is in pains for the absence of the husband.
However, this newspaper learnt that there is more than the eye can meet in the whole matter considering allegations trailing the development.
Unconfirmed reports have it that money may have exchanged hands leading to the vexatious music getting attention in IBC. It was alleged that a suspected syndicate may have been responsible for the music as it was said to be reportedly pushed to one electronic media for a huge sum, but was rejected, before the suspect in IBC was accused to have allegedly parted with a token to have aired in the state outfit.
This newspaper further gathered that these unconfirmed allegations and other stories connected to how the music was smuggled into the IBC; who brought it in and wanted it played as well as those behind the production for public consumption may be responsible for the continued detention of the suspected IBC Staff as the security agency intensifies investigation.
Imo state government in a statement signed by the Information and Strategy Commissioner, Hon Declan Emelumba said that the purpose of the song is to incite the public against government.
Explaining the position of the state government, the statement states
“In the past few days, the social media have been awash with demands for the release of one Casmir Chinonye Uzomah, a staff of the Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC),who was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) for airing on the IBC radio station, Orient FM, a criminal, libellous and extremely subversive song against His Excellency, Sen Hope Uzodimma, the governor of Imo state, while on duty at the radio station. That was on August 04,2022.
“Some of those ignorantly calling for his release have gone far enough to baselessly claim that he was detained on the orders of the state government.
“For the avoidance of doubt, neither Imo state government nor Imo Broadcasting Corporation is responsible for the arrest of the said Casmir Chinonye Uzomah. He was arrested by the DSS for airing subversive material capable of threatening national security.
“The DSS has confirmed that upon his arrest he made a written confession that the said offensive and damaging song he aired was given to him by some collaborators, in a flash drive, and he duly smuggled same into IBC studio and willfully caused it to be aired, in violation of the terms of his employment and the ethics of the broadcast industry.
“This seditious and highly subversive song described the governor of the state, His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodimma as a murderer, a vampire and sucker of blood. It was as bad as that, and indeed worse. Yet an employee of the government had the audacity to air the song in a state owned radio station. If that does not qualify for the height of impudence and willful subversion then nothing else can.
“That was a clear case of criminal libel against a man who has never been accused of a high crime nor convicted by a court of law. The aim, of course, was not just to disparage the governor but to maliciously damage his reputation and to incite the public against the government.
“Those who glibly talk of freedom and democracy in this matter are either ignorant of the potential crime of treason committed by Casmir Chinonye Uzomah or they are being hopelessly mischievous.
“Indeed it may not be far from the truth to conclude that those in the forefront of the clamour for his release may indeed know how he came about the offensive song. This may well explain why they want him out of the hook fast enough so that they can obstruct further chances of getting to the root of who did what and why
“It is instructive to note that apart from sabotaging his employers, Casmir Chinonye Uzomah also incurred the wrath of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), which queried IBC for breaching its code.
“These are the weighty issues at stake for which the DSS is carefully trying to get to its remote and immediate motives.
And from the explanation given by the DSS, the co- coconspirators, indicated by Mr Uzomah,in his statement, have been on the run. The DSS insists that they have to be apprehended and questioned alongside Casmir Chinonye Uzomah to establish their sinister motive.
“It is therefore important that while we exercise the right to call for the release of a detainee, we must not sweep under the carpet the need to first establish the motive for the suspect’s action, who his hasty released will most likely jeopardize investigations.
“A man who, acting in collaboration with some unscrupulous elements, could brazenly use a government’s station to incite the public against the Governor of the state, can as well plan to do something more dangerous using the same gang. This is why we think the DSS is right in insisting that it’s important and urgent that he should help them track down his collaborators so that the motive behind their action can be unraveled and judiciously rested”
