Exposed a police operation allegedly involving extrajudicial killings and organ harvesting, remains in jail facing threats to his life despite being granted bail
Nnamdi Emeh was jailed on what have widely been described as trumped-up charges after he exposed a police operation allegedly involving extrajudicial killings and extortion.
After completing a BSc in Business Administration, for his mandatory year of national youth service, the 26-year-old joined the Anambra State Rapid Response Squad as an IT consultant, specialising in tracking high-profile criminals.
According to Red Notice Monitor, which provides information about Interpol arrest warrants, Emeh anonymously leaked information about alleged corruption, abductions, extrajudicial killings and organ harvesting by Nigerian police officials that led to criminal investigations.
After Emeh’s identity was outed on social media he fled to neighbouring Benin, where he was arrested in March 2023 on an Interpol Red Notice and returned to Nigeria. Among the charges he faces are unlawful possession of firearms, money laundering, fraud and hacking. Red Notice Monitor said these charges were “all consistent with the types of false charges deployed by despotic regimes in politically motivated Red Notices against dissidents”.
Nnamdi to rot in jail,” says his father, John Emeh. “My son is a whistleblower who was arrested on trumped up charges. My defence attorney believes the state has no case at all.”
“Nnamdi Daniel Emeh was an inexperienced 25-year-old, vulnerable NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) member serving his fatherland with the police. He has not committed any crime that deserves perpetual incarceration,” he said.
“In fact, Nnamdi’s life is in grave danger as the police and their cohorts deliberately detain him in cells with criminals he helped the police to apprehend. The police should set Nnamdi free after nearly three years in prison. We appeal to friends, all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians and in fact the international community to rally to save our only child from irreparable damage to his young life,” said Professor Emeh.
He has made an impassioned plea to the international community to “kindly intervene to save our only child’s life”.
Earlier this year Nwanguma, the director of RULAAC, repeated his calls for police to release the results of their investigation into Emeh’s allegations.
“The same police continue to defend the accused officers while keeping the whistleblower in perpetual detention under questionable circumstances,” he said, calling Emeh’s case “a litmus test for Nigeria’s commitment to transparency, whistleblower protection, and the rule of law”.
He said Emeh’s “continued incarceration – despite court orders and public outrage – sends a chilling message to others who may dare to speak out against police corruption and abuse. It reinforces a culture where truth-tellers are criminalized and perpetrators are glorified.”
Nnamdi Emeh is being jointly supported by Blueprint for Free Speech and The Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF)
