I have a whole lot to write, but I will not bore you with long story. So, I will be brief.
On the 15th of February, 2023 at around 08:50AM, I was abducted (they never showed me any arrest warrant) by some policemen in Lokoja and taken to the FCT Police Command in Abuja. It was when I got there that I was served a petition from the Kogi Central PDP Senatorial Candidate, Natasha Akpoti and her husband, with Ebira4real Media and my friend (Zamil) as defendants respectively.
The petition reads:
“Criminal Conspiracy, Defamation of Character, Cyber Bullying and Stalking of Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan and Chief Barr. Natasha H Akpoti Uduaghan”
The references included four (4) posts from Ebira4Real’s page from February 2022 to November 2022.
- https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=346448350827174&id=100063860344326&mibextid=qC1gEa
- https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=529586722513335&id=100063860344326&mibextid=qC1gEa.
- https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=529633215842019&id=100063860344326&mibextid=qC1gEa, and lastly,
- https://www.facebook.com/100063860344326/posts/533534145451926/?mibextid=qC1gEa.
After glancing through the petition, I demanded to speak with my lawyer before making any statement. They refused, just as they had seized my phone and proceeded to harassing and torturing me into making statement. Having written the statement under torture, I was taken to an office where I was made to await the arrival of the petitioner. She came few hours later with some of her boys whom I have known and related with over the years.
She made so many verbal accusations, some of which are that I stalked, bullied her and her entire family since 2019. She said I was being sponsored against her. I sought privacy with her to debunk all these spurious allegations, but she paid no heed, rather gave me conditions to meet if I wanted to be released.
They include:
- Mentioning either Atimpo, Hi-Speed or Ohere as my sponsors
- I tell her where Yahaya Bello hid guns to be used against her in the elections
- Tell her what my business in the Govt house was (if I was doing dirty deals for the govt)
- Tender a public apology on Ebira4real, after which the page should be brought down.
Because all of these allegations were strange to me, I denied them all and tried to make her see reasons why I was not the person she thought she had. At this point when she laid all of these down, my lawyer had turned up.
In summary, that was how yours sincerely landed at the former SARS detention center popularly known as “abbatoir.” It took them my entire stay there (14 days) for them to come up with a charge before eventually arraigning me.
Upon arraignment, my lawyers were right at the door. It was quite a trial of an experience for me, and I have read everything everyone said. Friends and foes alike. I’m grateful for the time I had to speak with hardened criminals while in detention. That has molded me in a way I cannot explain.
On this note, I want to appreciate my lawyers (over five of them) who were head over hills to fight my case pro Bono. I’m grateful to friends, families and the beautiful souls who came through in ways I cannot describe in words.
While I will do a proper appreciation later, I want to state it clearly, that I was a victim of a political war, and not as wrongly painted. When all of these is over, I shall be vindicated.
– Amoto of Kogi.
