Officers of the Kogi police command have arrested Elijah Olorunsuwa, a lecturer with the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), over allegations of cybercrime in connection with WhatsApp messages on a road project in the state.

Olorunsuwa, a social commentator, was arrested on Wednesday at his residence in Ilorin, Kwara state capital, and taken to Kogi state.

He was later released on Wednesday evening and asked to return on Thursday.

Speaking with TheCable after his release, Olorunsuwa said around 5am on Wednesday, about eight police officers arrived at his residence in Ilorin to arrest him.

Olorunsuwa said he requested that the police officers should allow him to drive his own car and follow them to the nearest area command in Ilorin.

The lecturer said when they arrived at the area command in Ilorin, there were no police officers to attend to them. Afterwards, he decided to join the police officers in their van as they agreed to take him to the Kwara police command headquarters.

According to Olorunsuwa, the police officers reneged on the agreement and drove him to Kogi.

When the lecturer got to the police station in Kogi, he was shown a petition reportedly written against him by Jerry Omodara, security adviser to the Kogi state government.

THE PETITION

In the petition dated September 11 and addressed to the Kogi police commissioner, Omodara alleged that Olorunsuwa has “consistently made false allegation and publications” against the Kogi government using social media.

The security adviser said the lecturer’s recent social media post against the Kogi government was on the award of the Kabba-Oke-Offin-Olle-lluke road project.

Omodara said the Kogi government published advertisements in newspapers for the award of the reconstruction of the road.

The security adviser said after the newspaper publications, Olorunsuwa posted on social media that the road “project was not of the state government but World Bank sponsored and the state was to pay a counterpart fund”.

Omodara said Olorunsuwa’s post is “false, malicious and with the intention to deceive unsuspecting public and discredit the government of the day”.

“This does not go down well with the government as well as myself being from that area that have consistently reminded the government on the need to reconstruct the road,” the petition reads.

“It is therefore not acceptable to the government of the State and the people the road is supposed to serve.

“Consequently, Mr. Elijah Olounsuwa is to be apprehended and to be made to tender all documents available to him from or by the World Bank to back his claim, otherwise he is to be charged for cybercrime and prosecuted.”

THE WHATSAPP CONVERSATION

Olorunsuwa told TheCable that someone posted a message on the Oke Offin community WhatsApp group that the state government was reconstructing the Kabba-Oke-Offin-Olle-lluke road.

The lecturer said he commented that the road project is sponsored by the World Bank.

Olorunsuwa said that after his comment, Omodara replied to him and asked that the post should be deleted. He added that the state security adviser threatened that he should expect legal action if the WhatsApp post is not deleted.

The lecturer said he and Omodara hail from Oke Offin in Kabba/Bunu LGA of Kogi state.

“I told him that he should feel free to take me to court. I didn’t pull down the post,” the lecturer said.

“However, some elderly men on the platform reached out to me and appealed for the need to maintain peace and decorum.”

Olorunsuwa said that after the appeal from the elderly men, he deleted his WhatsApp comments and reached out to Omodara via the phone.

The lecturer said during the phone conversation with Omodara, the security adviser told him that Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi, had directed that he should be prosecuted over the post.

Olorunsuwa said he asked the security adviser if the Kogi governor was a member of the community WhatsApp group chat.

He said Omodara asked him to publish a retraction of his WhatsApp posts about the road project, adding that he refused to do so, which led to his arrest.

OMODARA REACTS

Reacting to the development, Omodara said Olorunsuwa published a “false claim” about the funding of the road project via WhatsApp and other social media platforms.

The security adviser told TheCable that he asked the lecturer to retract his post on the WhatsApp group since the road project is being funded by the Kogi state government.

Omodara said Olorunsuwa responded that he should be mourning his late cousin rather than clamouring for the withdrawal of the post.

He added that during a telephone conversation, he informed the lecturer that the road project was solely funded by the state government and not the World Bank, as he claimed.

The security adviser said Olorunsuwa refused to retract the social media post, which prompted the state government to petition the Kogi police commissioner. Cable

Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, has exercised his constitutional powers under the Prerogative of Mercy to grant remission to Mr. Chidozie Nwangwu, popularly known as Akwa Okuko tiwara aki, effectively bringing his jail term to an end.

Nwangwu, who was reputed for the practice of okite, a form of money ritual, was convicted in February 2026 on several counts of violating the Anambra State Homeland Security Law.

He was sentenced to two years imprisonment following a plea bargain between the Anambra State Government and Nwangwu. His sentence was originally expected to end next month, but the remission granted by Governor Soludo has resulted in his discharge.

Governor Soludo announced the remission on Friday during a visit to correctional centres in Anambra State, including the Onitsha and Amawbia Correctional Centres.

The Onitsha Correctional Centre currently houses about 739 inmates, making it the largest correctional facility in the state, while the Amawbia facility accommodates about 602 inmates despite having been built for only 280 inmates.

Welcoming the governor at Amawbia, the State Controller of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Ezinne Onuoha, expressed appreciation to him for the visit.

Soludo said his visit was part of his routine engagement with inmates and correctional facilities across the state.

“This is part of my routine visit. After I was sworn in, I visited the Correctional Centres. I have come to see you just to be sure you are okay,” the governor told the inmates.

The governor subsequently toured the facilities before holding a town hall meeting with some of the inmates, many of whom have spent years awaiting trial.

Cases involving murder, child trafficking, robbery, theft and land-related disputes were among those highlighted during the interaction.

Soludo noted that Anambra has an unusually high number of court cases, saying, “Anambra has the second highest number of cases in Nigeria.”

He urged the inmates to use their time in the correctional centres to acquire skills and reflect on their lives, stressing that the ultimate purpose of incarceration should include rehabilitation and positive transformation.

“The purpose of being here is so you become better human beings. If you finish staying here and do not become a new person, you have missed the idea,” he said.

The governor assured the inmates that his administration would not abandon them, emphasizing that they remain citizens with a role to play in building a better society.

“We will never forget anyone. We are all citizens, and we all have a responsibility to make this place a livable city. The objective is to make Anambra and Nigeria better. Society will get better if people become responsible citizens,” Soludo said.

He also encouraged inmates to take advantage of the state government’s plea-bargain initiative to facilitate the speedy resolution of their cases.

The governor disclosed that a committee headed by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Tobechukwu Nweke, SAN, had been constituted to review some cases and recommend inmates who may qualify for pardon or remission next month.

Governor Soludo was accompanied on the visits by members of his administration and other officials.

The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has announced that it will participate in the 2027 general elections following a Court of Appeal judgment setting aside a Federal High Court ruling that ordered its deregistration.

The party’s National Leader, Henry Seriake Dickson, disclosed this in a statement reacting to the appellate court’s decision in Abuja.

Dickson said the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment delivered by Justice Isah Dashen of the Federal High Court in Lokoja a few months ago.

The statement reads in full:

“Today, the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lokoja, delivered by Justice Isah Dashen a few months ago, which purported to order the deregistration of our party, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

“In a judgment delivered by the presiding Justice, Mohammed Danjuma, and read by Justice Hassan, the Court ruled in favour of allowing our appeal, which challenged the faulty ruling of the Federal High Court, Lokoja, and accordingly, set aside Justice Dashen’s judgment.

“We want to use this opportunity once again to commend the Nigerian judiciary, and in particular, Hon. Justice Danjuma and Hon. Justice Hassan, for upholding the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary and, by their decisions, expanding the sphere of multiparty democratic participation in Nigeria.

“We have said repeatedly that the NDC was set up to expand the frontier of multiparty democracy in Nigeria. Justice Dashen’s judgment a few months ago was an unexpected assault on our constitutional right to participate and an attempt to narrow the democratic space.

“Happily, Today, by the decision of the Court of Appeal, the Nigerian democratic space has been protected, and the NDC’s right to participate in all political activities as a registered political party has been upheld.

“I congratulate all members and candidates of our great party, the NDC, and thank Nigerians for their prayers and support.

“When the unexpected judgment of the Lokoja Federal High Court was delivered, we were bombarded with several calls for sympathy, support and prayers. Today, our collective prayers have been answered.

“The NDC continues to exist. Our registration remains valid and subsisting, and we and all our candidates will participate in all elections in 2027 and beyond, by the grace of God.

“Everyone should now focus on the campaigns, prepare for the elections, and focus on the task ahead to face the APC and defeat them at the polls.

“A resort to arm-twisting, inducing or intimidating the judiciary will not work. We remain confident in the strength of our message, the commitment of our members, the viability of our candidates, and the support of Nigerians.

“With this conviction, we look forward to the forthcoming elections and are confident that the NDC will emerge victorious at the polls, by the grace of God.

“The fight for Nigeria’s multiparty democracy continues and, by the grace of God, we will emerge victorious.”