An X user, @Onsogbu posted a claim on October 14, 2024 stating that the Imo State Police Command had arrested an Igbo monarch alongside his wife including Pastor and others for robbery and kidnapping.
The claim which had picture of the alleged suspect was captioned, “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. @martinokorowu”
The post had generated about 53.000 views, 129 replies, 207 reposts and quotes, 413 likes, and 41 bookmarks as of the time this report was published. The claim on the monarch being arrested for robbery and kidnapping has gone viral and can be seen here, here, here, here, here and on Facebook here, and here.
VERIFICATION
NV-A subjected the claim to a Google reverse image search, the result led the fact-checker to an image published on August 3, 2020.
For instance, the image was first posted on Facebook by 9News Nigeria on August, 3, 2020 with the caption, ‘Show of shame as a traditional ruler – Eze Andrew Okuegbunuwa of Obor Autonomous Community in Awara, in Oguta LGA was paraded with his gang by Police Command in connection to kidnapping related crime. #9NEWSNIGERIA.’
Further checks found that the news about the alleged monarch’s arrest was covered by P.M. EXPRESS, Tori News, 9jaflaver on August 4, 2020. The news report stated that Imo State police command arrested and paraded Eze Andrew Okuegbunuwa of Uba -Agwa autonomous community and seven others for alleged kidnapping. The commissioner of police identified Okuegbunuwa as the traditional ruler of Obor Awara in the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of the state.
One day later, The Punch Newspaper published a report around the arrest with the caption, Imo traditional council disowns monarch paraded for kidnapping. According to The Punch, the Chairman of the Imo State Traditional Rulers’ Institution, Eze E. C. Okeke, has said no traditional ruler in the state is involved in any case of kidnapping and armed robbery.
The state traditional rulers’ institution insisted that the suspect was not a monarch in the state, clarifying that the traditional ruler of Awara is Eze A. N. Ezenwoke, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Ohaji/Egbema LGA Traditional Institution and Community Policing.
Dubawa and FactCheckHub have also fact-checked this same claim, and their outcome proved that the claim is misleading.
CONCLUSION
The claim that the image shows an Igbo Monarch arrested for kidnapping and robbery is MISLEADING, findings revealed the image has been online since August 2020. Also, a news report from The Punch stated that Eze Andrew Okuegbunuwa is not a monarch in the Imo community.
