Personnel of the Otolo Nnewi police command in Anambra state allegedly extorted N150,000 from Jude Egbas, deputy editor of TheCable, after arresting and detaining him alongside his wife and children, including a 13-year-old and a three-year-old, for about 10 hours. The incident occurred on Sunday, December 28, 2025, in Ndiakwu community, Otolo Nnewi, following a family dispute at his wife’s family house. Egbas said police officers, led by Superintendent Onyebuchi Isiwekpeni, arrested him and his family after a local vigilante group invited security operatives to the scene, despite his insistence that the matter was a family disagreement that could be resolved amicably.
Egbas alleged that the police assaulted him and his wife, seized their phones, and detained the family without food or water before demanding money for their release. He said the officers initially requested N220,000 before reducing the amount to N150,000, warning that the family would spend the night in detention if the money was not paid. Reacting to the incident, Tochukwu Ikenga, spokesperson of the Anambra state police command, asked TheCable to submit a report or publish the story for the command to respond, while Nigeria Police Force spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin said, “Do the story, sir.” TheCable also noted that a 2024 Facebook video had previously shown the same officer allegedly harassing a motorist at a checkpoint in Anambra.