Inciting Comment: Court Remands Lagos Eze Igbo

The Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Yaba, on Wednesday, ordered that the Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate, Fredrick Nwajagu, be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre.
The order followed his arraignment and arrest over a viral video were he threatened to invite members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to Lagos.

Nwajagu was arrested last Saturday following a viral video.

The 67-year-old was further arraigned on Wednesday before the magistrate court, presided over by P. E. Nwaka.

He was charged with two counts, bordering on misconduct and intention to cause a breach of peace in Lagos State.

The four-man police prosecution team, led by the OC Legal, Yetunde Cardoso, told the court that Nwajagu committed the offence on March 26, 2023, at No 2 Akeem Shittu Street, Ajao Estate, Lagos.

“The defendant conducted himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace by making inciting statements, saying that he would bring IPOB terrorist group to shut down Lagos for one month, three weeks, or three days,” the prosecution said.

According to the team, the offences contravened Sections 168 (d), 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

They prayed the court to remand the defendant in the correctional centre for 30 days pending legal advice from the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

However, counsel for the defendant, while moving their client’s bail application, urged the court to admit the defendant to bail in the most liberal terms.

The magistrate, who rejected the counsel’s plea, ordered the immediate remand of the defendant at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending legal advice from the DPP.

The case was adjourned till May 3, 2023, for DPP advice.