Published 25th Apr, 2022

By Joseph Adeiye

The Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki in Ebonyi State has narrated the events that led to the continued detention of Timothy Ngwuta, a catholic priest, who was arrested by police in the state in March.

In a statement signed by Matthew Uzoma Opeke, Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese in the state on Sunday, Ngwuta was first arrested in December Ngwuta was arrested while trying to help Jade Ariom, his friend in retrieving a vehicle at Mbeke Ishieke, a community in the state.

“Fr. Timothy (Ngwuta) arrived at Mbeke and proceeded to the Police station to obtain clearance to move the vehicle whose tyres were deflated. The Police at Mbeke granted him permission to take the vehicle away after he had settled their bill for guarding the car for a period of two weeks,” the statement reads in part.

“In the course of inflating the tyres, the local vigilante swooped on him and his companions, demanding further settlements. Fr. Timothy informed them that the settlement with the police was meant to take care of them as well.

“After a while, a different set of local vigilante group arrived, bringing about some altercations between the two groups. Fr. Timothy and those who came to assist him to move the vehicle were arrested by the local vigilante and handed over to the same Police who earlier had given him clearance to move the vehicle.”

Statement from the Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki

It was revealed that the police detained Ngwuta and others with him at their Abakaliki headquarters for about 12 days.

“He was tortured. He was later released on bail, when his health began to fail him on account of the torture he received while in detention. That was on the 23rd of December, 2021. He was required to be reporting to the Police Station weekly. This he did religiously,” the official statement claimed.

However, the clergy was rearrested by the police on March 8 and charged with kidnapping, murder, and promoting inter-communal conflict. The police officers also claimed that the car Ngwuta recovered on his friend’s behalf in December was used to perpetrate these crimes.

Ngwuta hails from Ezza Effium, a community that has been in a deadly inter-communal conflict with Effium, a neighbouring community, for several months. Both communities lie in the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi.

Ngwuta has, however, denied all charges levelled against him. He has also insisted that he was unaware that the vehicle was used in prosecuting the alleged crimes.

According to the statement, a request to release Ngwuta on bail was denied on April 12.

It was also said that efforts to secure Ngwuta’s release on bail have been prevented by an executive order preventing any court in the state from entertaining matters relating to the Effium crisis.

FIJ made several calls to Loveth Oda, the police public relations officer of the state, but they were not answered. She is also yet to respond to the SMS sent to her at press time.

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