“4 men on plain clothes appeared from the bus with one pointing an AK47 raffle at my fore head” - Kalu Ikeagwu Narrate ordeal

Newly married Nollywood actor Kalu Ikeagwu was whisked away by the men of the Nigeria Police over phone theft and murder case on 26th of September 2016.

Narrating how it all happened to Sahara Weekly, Ikeagwu said: “It all happened at about 3:40pm. My daughter had just been dropped  off at home by her official  school bus while  I opened the gate for her to come into  the house,  two men accosted and  ordered that I should  follow them,  then I asked them who they are,  instead they  flashed an identity card that only showed police written on it without any  name.

Meanwhile, these two men were in plain clothes and one of them had a black looped earring.  At this point, I said I was not going to follow them since I do not know who they are. Suddenly a white unmarked bus pulled–up in front of me and four more men on plain clothes appeared from the bus with one pointing an AK47 raffle at my fore head.”

Not sure of who they are, the actor dialled his wife’s phone number but they tried to forcefully collect his phone from him but before could succeed he was able to tell his wife that some men were taking him away. He said he was handcuffed and to Pen-Cinema police station Agege, Lagos state passing Area G Police station, Ogba which is closer to Kalu’s house.

The actor claimed he was not taken inside the police station when they got there but was held outside the gate until one man simply known as Born Great Benin came out and was asking him questions The actor said: “I said to him I cannot answer any  question  from you,  unless I am taken  into the police station proper, it was this Born Great  Benin that later  ordered them to take off the cuffs  and  asked them to bundled me into  the bus again and they  drove off to somewhere I later identified as area F,  police station, Ikeja.  At this area F rather than take me into the station’s main building, I was held at a room when a certain gentle man identified as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Philips came in and showed me a telephone number and asked if I knew the owner of the number.”

Ikeagwu identified the owner of the number as his friend who had picked him up from the airport a few days earlier. He said his friend told him he swapped his old phone (iPhone) for a new one (iPhone) at Computer Village, Ikeja and paid an extra N37.000 in a legal business transaction  with a phone dealer. “That was when they explained to me that since I was the last person that dialled my friend’s phone number it made me a soft target-hence my arrest”.

When asked how his family fared and the impact of the ordeal on his immediate family the actor said: “First I will talk about my wife. She is still in fear even till this moment she even stopped me from jogging this morning. I thank God at the way she handled the situation, the situation has made me remember I have a gift in her.

For me, it only reminded me of what a movie director in Enugu told me, he said, he can forgive a man that takes away his wife, or a man that stabs him so long as he did not die, but can never lift a finger to help a dying police man. In my life I have never had dealings with the police but it’s unfortunate the way this episode ended.  Because their actions are an embarrassment to Nigeria’s image. The first skill of every intelligent police officer is his understanding of psychology but instead they chose to do otherwise.”

Ikeagwu’s friend who owned the said phone was out of town when he was arrested. He had since returned to Lagos thus the release of the actor while his friend has employed the service of a lawyer. They are working closely with the Nigerian Police to apprehend the phone dealer.