By Ishaya Ibrahim
An Australian/German-based non-governmental organisation, Blueprint for Free Speech, has alleged that IT Consultant Nnamdi Emeh faces an assassination risk at the Awka Correctional Centre in Anambra State.
Emeh gained prominence after the police claimed he was behind a publication linking some officers in the Anambra State Police Command with organ trafficking and kidnapping. The police accused Emeh of possession of firearms, money laundering, defamation of character, and unlawful transfer of N47 million from someone’s account. He has been in prison for over two years.
However, Blueprint for Free Speech says it has received information that Emeh’s life is in danger. The international NGO, quoting the father of the detainee, alleges a weapon was smuggled into the Awka prison where Emeh is being held.
The Blueprint for Free Speech statement reads: “According to his father, Professor John Emeh, the weapon was smuggled into the prison with instructions to provoke a fight and assassinate Nnamdi during the altercation.”
“Nnamdi was an IT consultant at a police unit in Nigeria, the Anambra State Rapid Response Squad, who specialised in tracking high-profile criminals.”
“According to Red Notice Monitor, which provides information about Interpol arrest warrants, Emeh anonymously leaked information about alleged corruption, kidnappings, organ harvesting, and extra-judicial killings by Nigerian police officials that led to criminal investigations.”
“After Emeh’s identity was revealed on social media, he fled to neighbouring Benin, where he was arrested in March 2023 on an Interpol Red Notice and returned to Nigeria.”
“Among the charges he faces are unlawful possession of firearms, money laundering, fraud, and hacking. Red Notice Monitor said these charges were ‘all consistent with the types of false charges deployed by despotic regimes in politically motivated cases.’”
“According to Emeh’s lawyer and his family, this is the second time a plot has been hatched to assassinate him. They say shortly after he was arrested, certain police officers planned to murder him during a transfer to a different prison on the pretext that he was shot while trying to escape. A public outcry ensued when the alleged plot was publicised, and he was eventually charged and produced in court in May 2023.”
Emeh was granted bail, but his family told reporters that attempts to release him were blocked by the police. Another order for his release was signed by a judge in May 2024, but it was reportedly opposed by the police, and he remains behind bars.
Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police set up a panel in 2023 to investigate Emeh’s allegations against senior officers, but it has never publicly released its findings.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director of Nigerian civil rights group Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), has described Emeh’s case as “a litmus test for Nigeria’s commitment to transparency, whistleblower protection, and the rule of law. The same police continue to defend the accused officers while keeping the whistleblower in perpetual detention under questionable circumstances,” he said.
“Nnamdi Emeh’s continued incarceration – despite court orders and public outrage – sends a chilling message to others who may dare to speak out against police corruption and abuse. It reinforces a culture where truth-tellers are criminalised and perpetrators are glorified,” said Nwanguma.
Dr. Suelette Dreyfus, Executive Director of International NGO Blueprint for Free Speech, wants the Nigerian authorities to take swift action. “We call for the immediate release of Nnamdi Emeh in accordance with judicial orders issued by the Nigerian courts. He has been granted bail, and should not spend a minute longer in jail,” she said.
“We are not pronouncing on the veracity or not of the allegations being made about grave human rights abuses committed by members of the Nigerian police. Many unanswered questions remain in this case, but the safety of whistleblowers who bring to light any evidence of wrongdoing in the public interest remains of paramount importance. The Nigerian authorities must investigate the threats against Nnamdi Emeh’s life without delay, and ensure his safety while in custody and upon his release,” added Dr. Dreyfus.
Emeh’s case has been adjourned several times in what has been described by his family as a deliberate ploy by the state to keep him behind bars indefinitely.
“My son is a whistleblower who was arrested on trumped-up charges,” his father, Professor John Emeh, said. “My defence attorney believes the state has no case at all. Nnamdi Daniel Emeh was an inexperienced 25-year-old, vulnerable NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) member serving his fatherland with the police. He has not committed any crime that deserves perpetual incarceration. In fact, Nnamdi’s life is in grave danger as the police and their cohorts deliberately detain him in cells with criminals he helped the police to apprehend. The police should set Nnamdi free after nearly three years in prison.”
“We appeal to friends, all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians, and in fact the international community to rally to save our only child from irreparable damage to his young life,” said Professor Emeh.
He believes the officers Nnamdi exposed “want him dead” and has called on the international community to “kindly intervene to save our only child’s life.”
Source:https://thenicheng.com/whistleblower-nnamdi-emeh-faces-assassination-risk-says-australian-german-ngo/
