Inspector General of Police (IG) Kayode Egbetokun has been urged by a coalition of civil society organizations in Ebonyi State to order an investigation into claims that House of Representatives member Chinedu Ogah used armed thugs to intimidate and harass some of his constituents in Ikwo Local Government Area, Ebonyi State.
A number of appeals to police authorities regarding the actions of Ogah, who represents Ezza South/Ikwo Federal Constituency in the House, have delayed for months, according to the coalition chaired by Prof. Joseph Agbo, necessitating the call.
The coalition accused the congressman of illegal firearm possession and land grabs in one of the petitions.
Friday Alefia, a journalist, and Chisom Achor, a Tik-toker, were among the indigenous people from the constituency identified as being incarcerated after being detained and charged by the police at Ogah’s request. Paul Nweke and Chinonso Imeba, Achor’s brother, are two more.
The Human Rights Volunteer Corps, HRVC, Human Rights Action Group, Center for the Defense of Human Rights, CDHR, and Good Living Initiative are the four civil society organizations that make up the group. The group also stated that some others had been forced to leave their communities in order to avoid becoming victims of the lawmaker’s goons.
On behalf of Emeka Kingsley, Nweke Chidi, and others, the group’s attorneys, Ede S. Ede & Co., sent a petition dated November 25, 2025, to IG Egbetokun and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
“Our client’s brief states that they have witnessed evil and what appears to be a permanent life in hell fire in the hands of Honourable Chinedu Ogah,” the petition stated in part. According to our clients, Hon. Chinedu Nweke Ogah’s conduct and behaviors are not only horrible but also a case of the fearful mindset of “might is right.”
“Our clients claim that Hon. Chinedu Nweke Ogah, who feels untouchable and has repeatedly boasted that not even the Inspector General of Police can question his activities because he is a personal friend, displays firearms with live ammunition and shoots without control.”
“Our clients claim that Honourable Chinedu Nweke Ogah finds it extremely enjoyable to oppress the poor and any dissenting voice, particularly when the person or people refuse to give up their land for Hon. Chinedu Ogah to seize, or when they refuse to pay the illegal levy that Chinedu Ogah frequently uses his cronies to levy on the downtrodden in the Amagu and other communities in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.”
The coalition called on the relevant authorities to promptly utilize their good offices to conduct a covert inquiry into the charges, listing 46 people—including the deceased—as victims of the lawmaker’s purported reign of terror.
The coalition condemned Ogah’s widespread attacks on free expression last week. Ogah has been in the spotlight for locking up people who criticize him on social media in police cells and correctional facilities.
Additionally, the group chastised Prof. Awo Nwaobashi, a state commissioner in office, for reportedly ordering the torture of a journalist by Neighborhood Watch members. In recent appearances on radio and television, the leader of the coalition, Agbo, reaffirmed that while the group does not condone character defamation, cyberbullying, or cyberstalking of any kind, among other things, the accusations made against Ogah were too serious to be ignored by the relevant authorities.
Alefia, whose case was brought to a Federal High Court, was notably mentioned by Agbo, an Ebonyi State University philosophy professor. He claimed the prosecutor was fined N50,000 by the judge for trying to prevent him from being granted bail.
“As long as there are laws in our land, even if one commits murder, the laws have provided for how such a person should be handled according to law,” he stated, expressing the group’s greatest concern.
“As a coalition, we have never and will never condone cyberbullying of any individual.” However, under military rule, we do not want the cybercrime laws to turn into another Public Officers Protection Against False Accusation Decree Number 2. The coalition leader continued, “We are concerned that the cybercrimes law seems to be creeping into that Decree.
We are arguing that none of these people were arrested by Hon. Ogah. It was the police. None of them were brought to these courts by Hon. Ogah. The police did, too.
These matters are being heard by the legal system. However, the point we are trying to make is: Why do you arrest someone for cyberbullying or defamation, handcuff him like a regular criminal, and then leave him in the station for weeks, days, or even months in Friday Alefia’s case? Why is a cyberbullying case referred to a magistrate court?
