A Magistrate Court in Nanka, Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State, heard the arraignment of three people over the weekend for allegedly providing police with false information regarding the murder of Mr. Tochukwu Onyemelukwe.
On Friday, Chioma Ikejiofor heard the arraignment of Mr. Joseph Omegha, Godson Oforkansi, and Martin Okeke in case MCNA/61923. Mr. Jacob Enemuo, the fourth defendant, didn’t show up because he was sick.
In 2021, the men petitioned the AIG over the murder of a local resident named Onyemelukwe; they were later accused of providing false information to the police.
The indictment read in part, “That you Joseph Omegha’m’, Godson Oforkansi’m’, Martin Okeke’m’, and Jacob Enemuo’m’, sometime in the month of December, 2021 conspired among yourselves to commit a misdeamanor to wit: giving false information to a public servant, and you thereby committed an offence punishable under 496(a) of the Criminal Code Law, Cap.
In a plea to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, FCID annex in Enugu, you falsely claimed that Emmanuel Ezeobi, Kosiochukwu Ezechukwu, and others had killed Tochukwu Onyemelukwe throughout the day.
It has been determined that “you did conduct yourselves in a manner likely to cause a breach of public peace when, without any concrete evidence and out of malice, you falsely accused one Emmanuel Ezeobi, Kosiochukwu Ezechukwu, and others of killing one Tochukwu Onyemelukwe.”
The men entered not guilty pleas to all counts. Plea and motion taking have been set for September 29.
The Inspector General of Police’s lawyer, Mr. Kyije Abang, informed reporters that the court had handed the defendants N50,000 in costs despite his request for N100,000 due to the absence of the defendants’ attorney.
Counsel for the defendant, who arrived after the court had been adjourned, said, “I was driving to court when my car broke down because of the terrible route. The judge has already told me to submit an application to have the fee waived. The purpose of this proceeding is to determine whether or not false information was provided. The spread of misleading information is the worst.
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