By chijioke hilary
Detectives from the Police headquarters in Abuja have arrested and detained the chairman of the All Progressive Congress, APC Imo state chapter, Hilary Ekeh in Owerri.
Trumpeta had exclusively reported last Thursday that the said Ekeh is in trouble and may be wanted by police in connection with advertorial he authored claiming that a Calabar High Court had allegedly delivered judgement against Eze Cletus Ilomuanya in 2006. Following APC state chairman’s claims, Ilomuanya’s counsel petitioned the Inspector General of Police to investigate and source how he obtained the purported judgement.
Trumpeta on Wednesday morning observed a minor scene at the entrance of Concorde Hotel, Owerri when plain-clothed operatives suspected to be from Abuja sneaked into the state to pick Eke. After laying ambush for the APC chairman, Eke was trapped in Concorde Hotel when he attempted to leave after a meeting.
At the gate, the operatives requested his attention and placed him under arrest immediately. Passersby, especially APC sympathizers and apologists off the state government made spirited efforts to have him of the hook but the policemen refused, but insisted he was under arrest and must join them to Abuja where the petition was sent to.
Efforts by our correspondent who monitored the development to join the police to their next destination was unsuccessful. But the newspaper learnt that Eke was taken to the criminal Investigation Bureau of the state police command where the policemen had initially reported for necessary documentation before transferring the politician to Abuja for further investigation
As at the time of going to press, it was not ascertained if they eventually made the trip to Abuja. Our correspondent reliably learnt Eke was detained. Calls put across to the State Police Command spokesman Andrew Enwerre, a DSP was not through.
However, uncomfirmed reports have it that the APC chairman may been granted bail later because of his position and asked to report on September 15, 2014 to produce true certified copy of the said Calabar Court judgement he told the policemen was in public domain when asked to make statement how he procured the document
In a petition signed by O.A. Obinwe SAN, Ilomuanya’s counsel, dated 19th August 2014 and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Eze Ilomuanya asked for investigation of the APC state chairman, Eke over alleged forgery and uttering-criminal defamation.
“The subject of this petition Dr Hilary Eke, took out two advertisements in the “Daily Sun” Newspaper of Friday August 15, 2014 at page 60 and This Day Newspaper of Sunday August 17, 2014 at page 101 respectively where he made grave, malicious, and unfounded allegations against our client. One of the documents relied upon in the publication is a purported “judgment extracts” of the High Court of Cross-Rivers State allegedly delivered on 13th August 1990 (please see both publications) marked ANNEXURES A and B.
“It is our instruction that the alleged “judgement extracts” is a forgery by Dr Hilary Eke and his confederates for the sole purpose of tarnishing the reputation of our client.
We therefore call on you to order for an investigations into the alleged “judgement extracts” which is the product of a heinous criminal act with the view to bringing the gentlemen in question to justice”, the petition added.
