The Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, confirmed the arrest while reacting to SaharaReporters’ report.
The Nigerian Army has confirmed the arrest of one Peter Chibuzo Agwu inside a church during his wedding on Saturday in Abia State.
The Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, confirmed the arrest while reacting to SaharaReporters’ report.
Nwachukwu said that Chibuzo was arrested in connection to a kidnap case that the Army was investigating, noting that a preliminary report showed that he was not involved.
He, however, promised that he would be released as soon as possible from custody.
SaharaReporters reported on Thursday that some personnel of the Nigerian Army had arrested Chibuzo Agwu inside a church during his wedding in Abia State because someone allegedly on the military wanted list shared his wedding invitation on Facebook.
Chibuzo, according to family members, had been in solitary confinement at the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu State, since Saturday after he was picked up alongside his best man inside the church.
The family said Chibuzo had not been informed of the offence he committed.
His best man was released after some days but Chibuzo is still being detained by the army.
SaharaReporters reliably gathered that Chibuzo's bride was stripped of her phones and other electronic gadgets in their house, including the ones belonging to her husband.
His elder brother, Samuel Agwu, told SaharaReporters, on Thursday that the military had not told them any offence or crime his brother committed that warranted the ruining of his wedding.
Agwu, who hails from Abia State, decried the arrest of his brother and the ruining of his wedding because someone in Imo State (who the groom did not know) tagged his wedding invitation shared on his Facebook page.
Lamenting the development, he said, "My brother is the groom to a bride from Umulolo in Okigwe. On Saturday, 16 December 2023, I was at the reception venue (somewhere at Umuahia) when I got frantic calls from my people that persons said to be members of the Nigerian Army had whisked my brother away from the church wedding venue at Umuahia.
"We began to look for my brother as they did not disclose their identities and where they came from. On Monday, December 18, 2023, we learnt that my brother was being kept at 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu.
"When we got there, we were informed that a person wanted by the Nigerian Army liked and shared wedding pictures and invitation posted by my brother on Facebook. So, my brother is being held as bait for those wanted persons to come forward and not because my brother did anything wrong."
Calling on Nigerians and human rights organisations, Amnesty International and the Nigerian Human Rights Commission (NHRC), for intervention before they end his brother’s life, Agwu said his brother (Chibuzo) should be released because he had done no wrong.
He asked how someone unknown to them would come forward because his brother was in detention, as the army believed.
He said, "I have asked to be shown the person that they say shared or liked my brother's wedding pictures and invitations on social media. I am told (but have not been shown) that one Sunny Okorie shared the post. I do not know Sunny Okorie and I doubt that my brother knows Sunny Okorie.
"The only thing I and my brother know about a person called Sunny Okorie is that when we went to pay the dowry of my brother's bride, the community said that part of their custom is that a person from their community must be the marriage mediator. We didn't know any person from their community except my brother's bride and her parents and the community nominated a person who was asked to be the marriage mediator.
"That person was introduced as Sunny. After the ceremonies on that traditional marriage day, we parted ways. We had no other contact with this Sunny before and after the traditional marriage day and hadn't known his full name, business or social media accounts."
He further explained that many people reacted to the wedding invite his brother posted on his social media platforms.
"We didn't take note of those who liked or shared it in any way," he said.
"We are confused as to what is really going on. Please, help us in any way that you can. I don't want anything to happen to my only brother. My old widowed mother cannot bear any hurt coming to him. Please, I really need help; I don't know where it will come from," he lamented.
Meanwhile, a human rights advocate and Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Centre, Okechukwu Nwanguma has condemned Chibuzo’s arrest and detention, describing it as illegal and unconstitutional.
According to Nwanguma, "arrest in lieu is illegal," adding that "both the Police Act and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act prohibit it."
He explained that arresting people in lieu which the Nigerian laws have forbidden “criminalises and victimises innocent people".
Nwanguma, however, called on the military authorities to release Chibuzo without further delay or charge him if he had committed any offence.
Confirming the arrest in a text message, Army spokesman, Nwachukwu, promised that Chibuzo would soon be released.
He said, "I have information that Agwu was arrested in connection to a kidnap case and has been helping with ongoing investigations.
"However, the preliminary investigation so far conducted indicated he has been cleared and he will be released soon."