Taiwo Jimoh 
…Sharing of Wedding Invite on Facebook Palaver
Proxy arrest
The Nigeria Army has arrested a groom, Chibuzo Agwu, inside a church during his wedding in Abia State and detained him. It was learnt that the man who stood in as mediator for the bride’s family has been on the wanted list of the Nigeria Army. The army was said to have been trailing the criminal for long, but couldn’t get him, only to see him sharing a weeding card on Facebook. Our correspondent also gathered that the army went to the church, venue of the weeding, with the hope that the wanted criminal would be there to celebrate with the couple.
Unfortunately, when the Nigeria Army got to the church, they did not find the suspect at the venue of the wedding, so the groom was picked up in lieu of the suspected criminal and whisked away in their operational vehicle. The groom is still being held in custody even after the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, said the man is innocent of the issue for which he was picked up.
Family’s plight
According to Samuel Agwu, Chibu- zor’s elder brother, he was not in the church for the wedding when he was picked up by the Army, but he was at the reception making arrangements for the guests when his younger sister called him that Chibuzor had been whisked away by the Nigeria Army, causing confusion and panic in the church. He said: “My brother Chibuzor is a groom to a bride from Umulolo in Okigwe. On Saturday, December 16, 2023, I was at the reception venue somewhere at Umuahia when I got frantic calls from my sister that some persons said to be members of the Nigerian Army have whisked my brother away from the church wedding venue.
“We began to look for my brother. 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 criminal wanted by the Army liked and shared his wedding pictures and invitation card posted by my brother on Facebook. As a result of that my brother is being held as bait for the wanted person to come forward and report himself and not because my brother did anything wrong. “I have begged that my brother be released, I don’t see how persons who are unknown to us will come forward because my brother is in captivity, national human rights commission should help us, President Bola Tinubu should help us.
“I have asked them to show me the person that they say shared or liked my brother’s wedding pictures and invitation card on social media. I do not know the Sunny Okorie before now and I doubt that my brother also knows him. “The only thing my brother and I know about a person called Okorie is that when we went to pay the dowry of my brother’s wife, 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 other person in the community except my brother’s wife and her parents.
“It was my brother’s wife’s parents who introduced the man to us as Okorie to be the marriage mediator, aside from that day, we had not met him before now and we also didn’t see after then, we hope on God for his release from the Army detention.” Samuel added that after the traditional marriage day where they met him, they parted ways and never came in contact with Okorie again. They don’t know his name, business or social media accounts, until they went to pay dowry. “Many people reacted to the wedding invite posted by my brother on his social media platforms.
He didn’t take note of those who liked or shared the invitation in any way. “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 to go to, it is difficult for me to bear.” Another Chibuzor’s brother, John- son Agwu, said it is a serious issue for a groom to be picked up on his wedding day in the church for an offence he didn’t commit and knows nothing about.
“We have tried our best to get him out of the army gulag, they are still telling us to bring the wanted person, this is a person we don’t know from Adam, we only met him on the day we went to pay dowry for the bride and he acted as the bride mediator. “The military said it would release him soon after having cleared him based on their preliminary investigation. Our family members went to get him on Friday, December 22, but learnt that the officers on ground had no information on releasing him.
“We all went back home disappointed, we would be happy if he is released, because he has been cleared by the army, but he’s being detained, We were happy when he was cleared. I would be happy if he’s released because of the wife.”
Human rights issues
The Executive Director of the Rule of Law, Advocacy and Administrative Centre (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma said a member of the groom’s family reached out to RULAAC for assistance on his arrest and detailing what transpires. Nwanguma said: “Arrest in lieu is illegal. Both the Police Act and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act prohibit it.” He said it is act to criminalises and victimises innocent people. “The groom is yet to be released. Even though the Director of Army Information has been quoted to have said investigation revealed he was not implicated in the alleged crime and promised ‘he would be released soon, but yet to be released.”
GOC react
When contacted, the General Commanding Officer, GOC, of 82 division, Enugu State, Hassan Taiwo Dada, said he would ask the military police to call our correspondent on the subject matter. However, since then nobody has called our correspondent from the military police as promised by the GOC on the arrest and detention of the groom.
