After being released by Justice Rosemary Oghoghorie of the Federal High Court in Calabar, the police have rearrested the Editor-In-Chief of Mandate Watch Edet Okpo within the court premises.
Justice Oghoghorie had discharged the journalist, saying the charges had no meaning and that the prosecutors wasted the court’s time for two years.
She said the charges were badly composed mainly to punish the journalist.
Okpo was accused of defamation of character and cybercrime as complained by the Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua (Rtd), and the case filed in July 2020 after the journalist was arrested and detained for several weeks in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
But Zone 6 Police in Calabar, rearrested Okpo on the premises of the court, saying the judge did not discharge and acquit him.
Okpo was detained for four hours, signed a bail bond before he was released.
This is despite the fact that the police have yet to pay the N5m awarded him earlier by Justice Okon Okon of the Akwa Ibom State High Court, Ibiono, as damages for assaulting and detaining him for weeks under severe conditions.
The court had also directed the police to return N2m extracted from Okpo under duress at UBA, Aka Road, Uyo, when they arrested him in July 2020.
