Akuwudike, a journalist based in Owerri, Imo State, was arrested three weeks ago shortly after granting a viral interview to Adeola Fayehun on YouTube.
The family of Nigerian journalist and whistleblower Obinna Oparaku Akuwudike has sounded the alarm over his continued incommunicado detention, three weeks after police arrested him on May 22, 2025, in Owerri, Imo State. Officers acting on alleged orders of Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun seized Akuwudike at 3 a.m., with his distraught wife revealing in a SaharaReporters-exclusive video: “I have not spoken with him for three weeks. They (police) came and took him away. I haven’t heard from him, and I don’t know his condition”. She added that the family’s pleas to Imo State police officials have gone unanswered.
Akuwudike’s arrest followed his viral YouTube interview where he exposed a ₦2.5 million smear campaign against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, orchestrated by Sandra Duru (“Prof Mgbeke”) and allegedly bankrolled by Senate President Godswill Akpabio 169. The journalist had confessed: “I received money for producing videos but grew concerned after noticing inconsistencies in Duru’s public statements”, later withdrawing from the plot and calling all accusations against Senator Natasha “fabricated lies” . His detention is widely viewed as retribution for implicating powerful figures.
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