How police officers detained me, my family, extorted N150,000 – Journalist

Jude Egbas, the deputy editor of the TheCable, has accused operatives from Otolo Nnewi Divisional Police Headquarters in Anambra State of arresting and detaining him alongside his wife and two underage children in the state.

Mr Egbas told TheCable that the operatives only released him and his family after allegedly forcing him to pay N150,000 as bail.

The journalist said he and his wife, Ogechukwu Chukwujekwu, and his kids, Munachukwu, 13, and Adela, three years old, were detained for 10 hours until he paid the money.

According to the journalist, the incident occurred on Sunday, 28 December 2025, in Ndiakwu Otolo Community, Knew I North Local Government Area of the state.

‘Family feud’

Mr Egbas had travelled to the community to spend Christmas with his wife and in-laws.

In the early hours of the 28 December, the journalist recalled being woken up by a loud argument emanating from another wing of a building within the community.

“Apparently, my wife and her uncle, Collins Okechukwu Anya, who was visiting from the United States, and who had adopted her as his daughter, were having a disagreement,” he said.

“Anya had attacked and slapped her twice as tempers rose. The altercation had stemmed from an alternative power supply arrangement the night before, as the building is not yet connected to the power grid.

“The other wing of the building where the altercation was unfolding had most of my in-laws. I could hear my mother in-law and sister in-laws trying to douse the tension and settle the fight as I hurriedly put on some clothes to dash to the scene.

“As I arrived in the room, there was noise from every corner. The din could have been heard from miles away. Anya was still baying for blood as he was being restrained from hitting my wife — his daughter — again.

“In the course of their scuffle, my wife had damaged the television in self-defence. This further exacerbated a disagreement that should have been settled amicably between members of the same family.”

The journalist’s wife, Ogechukwu, told TheCable that Mr Anya has a history of hitting and beating her up.

“He did it at Christmas of 2023/2024, when he ganged up with his brother to physically assault me, pulling my hair in the process,” she recalled.

Latest incident

Mr Egbas narrated that, during the latest incident on 28 December, Mr Anya, after the initial scuffle, subsequently phoned the head of a local security outfit, Agunechemba, who stormed the house.

“Attempts to make the vigilantes understand that this was nothing more than a family fight that should be settled amicably failed.

“Before long, the vigilantes were beating up everyone in the building,” he said.

Mr Egbas continued: “Helen, my wife’s younger sister, was dished a hot slap and her clothes were ripped apart. She was basically stripped.

“I had confronted the assailant to say it was wrong to be laying a hand on a woman or treating a lady in that manner.

“But I was roughened up, too, for my troubles and insulted by the gun-wielding team. I basically had a gun pointed to my head at this point.

“With our Christmas vacation now a hot mess, my wife asked that we leave for her dad’s compound in Umuenem. As we packed our belongings, the police team from the Otolo Nnewi post arrived. And further hell was let loose.”

‘Journalism is a useless profession’

Mr Egbas said the police team had been instructed to arrest him and his family and that the team was led by Onyebuchi Ismiwekpeni, a superintendent of police.

“I was dragged by the waist like a common criminal and bundled into the police van parked outside.

“I watched helplessly as police officers beat up my wife, leaving marks on her body. My wife and her sister, my children, were also thrown into the back of the van.

“Then our phones were seized. What breaks me to this day was my three-year-old crying in my arms as we were driven to the police station,” he said.

“Once at the station, I still thought this whole thing could be settled as nothing more than a family feud. As I tried to speak, first identifying myself as a journalist and pulling out my identification, Isiwekpeni descended on me,” the journalist said.

Mr Egbas narrated that Mr Isiwekpeni called him unprintable names and ridiculed the journalism profession as “useless.”

“My wife was also insulted and called all sorts of names, including being slut-shamed by this officer.

“There we sat, behind the counter — all six of us, including our caregiver, for 10 hours — without access to our phones, without food and without water. With my children in my arms crying while the ordeal lasted,” he said.

The journalist said around 5 p.m., he was summoned under a tree where Mr Isiwekpeni had been holding court. He was then told that to set himself and his family free, he had to pay up.

“First, I was told to pay N220,000. We pleaded for more than an hour.

“Thereafter, we were asked to pay N150,000. We were all drained at this point, and night was fast approaching.

“It was a Sunday, and I had to report to work the next day. The police made it clear that we were all going to spend the night in the cell if I didn’t pay up,” the journalist narrated.

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He continued: “With our phones still confiscated, Helen, my wife’s sister, who had been locked up with us, begged for hers to facilitate the transaction.

“Helen’s aunt and Anya’s sister, who also resides in the United States, then loaned us the money for our bail.

“I was then permitted by Isiwekpeni to leave the station to the nearest cash withdrawal point to get the money as the police do not do transfers.

“When I returned, with the N150,000 concealed in a black polythene bag, Isiwekpeni still coerced me and my wife to write statements and an undertaking, and still made me sit as he counted the money to make sure it was complete to the last kobo, before we were let go.”

‘Do the story, sir’

When contacted, Tochukwu Ikenga, the police spokesperson in Anambra State, told TheCable that the victim should write a report of the matter and forward it to the police for action.

“What do you want me to do? Please write a report and send it to us for action. Or you can do the story and then we would react,” Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said.

Also contacted, Benjamin Hundeyin, Nigeria Police Force spokesperson, asked the newspaper to speak with Mr Ikenga on the conduct of the officers and the extortion of N150,000 from Mr Egbas.

When informed of Mr Ikenga’s response, Mr Hundeyin said: “Do the story, sir.”