Eze Ndigbo arraigned before Lagos high court on nine counts of terrorism after threatening to unleash Ipob

LAGOS State government prosecutors have arraigned the Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate in Igwe Frederick  Nwajago before a high court sitting at sitting Tafawa Balewa Square on Lagos Island on nine counts of terrorism.

According to the charge sheet, Igwe Nwajago is accused of attempts to commit acts of terrorism, participate in terrorism, of meeting to support a proscribed entity, attempting to finance an act of terrorism and preparation to commit an act of terrorism preferred against the state government. He was arrested on April 1 after recording a video, in which he threatened to invite members of the  Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) to Lagos to secure properties of Igbo people living in the state.

In the 49-second viral video, Igwe Nwajago was heard saying: “Ipob, we will invite them. They have no jobs. All of the Ipob will protect all of our shops and we have to pay them. We have to mobilise for that. We have to do that. We must have our security so that they will stop attacking us at midnight, in the morning and in the afternoon.

“When they discover that we have our security before they will come, they will know that we have our men there. I am not saying a single word to be hidden. I am not hiding my words, let my words go viral. Igbo must get their right and get a stand in Lagos State.”

Benjamin Hundeyin,  the spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, said the command would resist the presence of Ipob in the state. Igwe Nwajago, 67, was subsequently arrested and taken before the Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Yaba, which made an order that he should be remanded in the prison custody.

In what was now his second court appearance, Igwe Nwajago was brought before Justice Yetunde Adesanya this week. Jonathan Ogunsanya, a deputy director in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, who represented the attorney-general Moyosore Onigbanjo, told the court that the Eze Ndigbo violated  the provision of sections 403(2) and 12(c), 18, 21, 29 & 12(a) of the Terrorism (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022.

When the charges were to him, the defendant, however, pleaded not guilty. Justice Adesanya adjourned the matter until July 4 for commencement of trial.