In a bid to gather more evidence, heavily armed policemen and officials of the Department of State Service (DSS) have reportedly stormed the residence of the arrested Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Frederick Nwajagu, for the second time.
Bellnewsonline.com reports that the DSS and Police had on Saturday morning arrested Nwajagu after the release of a 49-second video shared on Twitter, where he threatened to invite members of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to secure properties of Igbo people in Lagos State.
Nwajagu was nabbed at a hotel in Ejigbo, where he was apprehended after a midnight raid by the Police and DSS operatives who arrived at his palace in Ajao Estate but did not find him.
The security operatives had whisked the Igbo leader to the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba.
According to Vanguard, the DSS and heavily armed policemen, on Monday, returned to his residence with two white pickup Hilux vans for a search.
They conducted thorough searches that lasted over four hours before returning to SCIID, Panti.
Eyewitnesses said Nwajagu, who was handcuffed, led the policemen and DSS officials into his palace. It was learned that the security men left his palace without any visible incriminating evidence.
Police sources said Nwajagu was arrested following deep concerns over his statement that members of IPOB would be invited to Lagos if the destruction of properties belonging to his kinsmen continued.
It was gathered that security agencies and top government officials in Abuja and Lagos State were rattled by the statement Nwajagu made publicly and the attendant response while it trended online, prompting the directive that he should be arrested and investigated.
However, one of the sources said plans to either fly him to Abuja or take him straight to court after conducting a thorough search in his palace were hastily changed.
He stated that this followed the inability of detectives to uncover any incriminating evidence in his house on Monday.
“We have plans of even rounding up all the members of his cabinet in Ajoa Estate and anybody remotely or otherwise, connected with the volatile and provocative statement he made, but it will depend on the outcome of our subsequent investigation,” the source said.
According to sources, investigations would continue while he remains in detention at the SCIID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos to ascertain whether his threat was real, deeply founded, or a fluke, especially when the Federal Government had proscribed IPOB while they continue to operate in the South-East.
72 hours in custody
Speaking on the Igbo leader’s arrest, Dr. Gerald Abonyi, who spoke on behalf of Nwajagu lawyers, said they had sent a strongly worded appeal to Lagos State Commissioner of Police Idowu Owohunwa for his release on administrative bail.
He said his client had shown maximum cooperation with the police, having spent over 72 hours in custody, and should be granted bail.