The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, CP Ahmed Ammani, has ordered the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate, arrest and prosecute an online publisher for allegedly spreading falsehood against authorities in the state.
This is contained in a statement signed by the police spokesman in Enugu state, DSP Daniel Ndukwe on Monday in Enugu.
The commissioner described as the height of falsehood and mischief-making, the alleged baseless and misleading publication by one Dave Okanya, an online publisher.
The state police boss said that Okanya stated, among other contrived claims, that he, the commissioner “banged phone call” on Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
“I wonder the source of his impetus to publish and circulate same on the social media.
“Consequently, I have ordered the state CID to immediately commence discreet investigation that will lead to the arrest and prosecution of the publisher and his aiders.
“It is not in the character of the command to take seriously, attention and/or relevance-seeking individuals like the publisher, whose stock in trade is to create and peddle mendacious information of this nature on the social media.
“However, the command has made it categorically clear that the content and context of the publication, in this critical moment of the general elections, is one joke taken too far,” he said.
The commissioner also cautioned political actors and their supporters to maintain peace and desist from making provocative utterances that were capable of heating up the polity.
According to him, the command will not allow anybody truncate the immutable quest of the police, working with other security agencies and peace-loving citizens, to achieve a more peaceful and credible Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly Elections come March 18.
He, therefore, noted that the police would not stand idly by and watch any person or group of persons act in the contrary.