AN image purportedly showing a monarch from Nigeria’s Southeastern region who was arrested by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over kidnapping has resurfaced online.
An X user, @Onsogbu, posted the image with a caption that read:
“The Imo State Police have arrested Igwe Eze Okwuegbunwa, a 69-year-old Igbo monarch from Uba-Agwa in Oguta LGA, along with his wife, cousin, pastor, and 30 others on charges of robbery and kidnapping. This surprising case implicates an entire royal family in allegedly victimizing their own community(sic).”
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The post has garnered over 52,000 views with more than 200 reposts and over 400 likes as of October 17, 2024.
Similarly, another X user, @drpenking, posted the same image with a similar caption thus:
“The Imo State Police has taken into custody Igwe Eze Okwuegbunwa, a 69-year-old Igbo monarch from Uba-Agwa in Oguta LGA, along with his wife, cousin, pastor, & 30 others for robbery & kidnapping. This shocking arrest involves a whole royal family accused of preying on their people(sic).”
The image has been trending on X, among other social media platforms.
CLAIM
Image shows an Igbo monarch arrested over robbery and kidnapping recently.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the incident occurred in August 2020.
Our researcher subjected the image to a Google reverse image search, and the results reveal that the incident occurred in August 2020, and not recently as implied in the X posts. An earlier version of the image can be seen on Facebook here and here.
Media reports by Blueprint newspaper and social blog (Yabaleft) show that the Imo State Police Command paraded a traditional ruler, Eze Andrew Okwuegbunwa, of Uba-Agwa autonomous community, alongside seven others, for allegedly kidnapping a police inspector, Oscar Mbaeri, and Louis Obodo, both from the same community.
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Imo state Commissioner of Police, Isaac Akinmoyede, revealed that the traditional ruler was arrested alongside his cousin, a pastor, and others after a botched kidnapping operation.
During investigation, it was found that the monarch had provided his vehicle to the gang and received part of the ransom collected from their victims. Eze Okwuegbunwa confessed to hiring out his car to the kidnappers but claimed ignorance of their activities.
The incident took place in August 2020, though the image is being republished as recent.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the image shows an Igbo monarch arrested for robbery and kidnapping recently is MISLEADING; the incident occurred in August 2020.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
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