The Imo State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of Chinedu Agu, a lawyer and activist accused of defaming Hope Uzodinma, the state governor.

FIJ gathered that the police arrested Agu on Tuesday, and he was arraigned before a magistrate’s court in Owerri on Wednesday.

DSP Henry Okoye, the public relations officer for the police command, who spoke to FIJ on Wednesday, said:

“Mr Chinedu Agu, Esq., has been arraigned before a Magistrate’s Court in Owerri on allegations bordering on cyberstalking, defamation of character, inciting civil disturbances, and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.

“The arraignment was carried out in accordance with the rule of law and with due respect for his fundamental human rights.”

FIJ found that Agu’s last post on X was shared at 5:52 am on Tuesday, and it read, “My bail return date with the @PoliceNG is today at 1 pm, over the petition from the fictitious body alleging criminal defamation of the governor of Imo State and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.”

Then, late at night, at exactly 10:34 pm, Chidi Odinkalu, a lawyer and professor, broke the news of Agu’s detention.

“Breaking: @PoliceNG in Owerri, Imo State, acting on the instigation of the State Commissioner for information, @DeclanEmelumba, has today (Tuesday) disappeared activist lawyer, @ChineduAgu87. He was last seen being taken into the #XSquad in Owerri. At present, he is unaccounted for,” Odinkalu stated on X.

While Okoye spoke with FIJ on Wednesday, he revealed that the arraigned lawyer was arrested by detectives of the Inspector General of Police (IGP)’s X-Squad Unit, State Command, over a social media post, where he claimed that “justice within the state had been kidnapped by bandits in government”.

“This barrister posted on social media that justice within the state had been kidnapped, not by bandits in the bush but by bandits in the government. And we had to invite him to substantiate his claim, which he was not able to do,” Okoye told FIJ.

“This is just one out of many misleading reports he had dished out to members of the public. We did a thorough investigation and in line with the rule of law and the administration of criminal justice act, we had to arraign him in court this morning.”

FIJ found that Agu posted a police invitation letter on Facebook on September 12. He was to appear at the police headquarters on Wednesday, September 17.

Agu believed that the invitation stemmed from “a petition lodged by the Imo State Ministry of Information, alleging ‘criminal defamation’ and ‘conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace’”.

In a Facebook post he shared on Saturday, Agu said the police presented him with a petition that accused him of inciting the public to revolt against the state government and the police via an August 31 publication with the title, ‘Imo State – Where Justice Is on Vacation During Court Vacation’.

The petition also accused him of incitement through another publication, ‘Tears from Enugu: A Lawyer’s Heartbreaking Diary from a State That Works to a State in Ruins’.

Agu, who noted that the petition failed to disclose any prima facie offence of criminal defamation of the state governor, maintained that everything he wrote in the two pieces was factual.

He said:

“In my first article [as referenced], I simply highlighted glaring facts already in the public domain: the absence of an Acting Chief Judge, the lack of Vacation Courts, the non-existence of a substantive Attorney-General, and the paralysis of the Judicial Service Commission. These are not inventions but truths, and they expose a justice sector on life support. Thankfully, the OC X-Squad, a brilliant Ph.D. holder in law, is capable of recognising this.

“In the second piece, I drew a comparative analysis between the roads in Enugu and those in Imo. I then listed, for emphasis, twenty major roads within a seven-kilometre radius of Government House that are in deplorable condition. […]

“As for the allegation of “inciting the public,” I threw the challenge to the police to point to a single line in my write-ups that expressly called for insurrection. I noted that the notoriety of Tiger Base, the notorious police unit, is well documented not only in the state but nationally and internationally. Many human rights organisations have chronicled its abuses, and it was discussed extensively at the recently concluded NBA Annual General Conference in Enugu (August 2025). These are facts, not fabrications.”