After months of evading several Police invitations to answer allegations of unlawful possession of firearms and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace before a High Court, suit No. HOW/1C/2025, the Nigeria Police, Imo State Command, has arrested Chief Amobi Uwaleke.
Information made available to the press revealed that Chief Uwaleke was arrested today (3 October 2025), thereby ending a long evasion.
Recall that an Owerri Magistrate Court presided over by His Worship, O. J. Uzoechi, had on 20th August 2025 entered a judgement in case No. OW/124C/2025 between the Commissioner of Police vs. Chief Amobi Uwaleke & 3 others. The judgement cited a motion on notice dated 26-06-2025 and filed on 27-06-2025, seeking the court to restrain the complainant/respondents from further arresting or harassing the defendants over the matter before his court.
The motion had also pointed out a 10-paragraph affidavit with a further affidavit dated 19-08-2025, noting that a written address was filed and adopted as an argument in support of their application, and argued that the defendants had not committed any further crime to warrant harassment and arrest.
However, after listening to the submission of the prosecuting counsel backed up with documents tendered as exhibits, the prosecution pointed out that there were two different offences committed, and the 1st defendant and others in one of the offences in the Magistrate Court submitted to the jurisdiction of the Magistrate Court, while they refused to honour the police invitations and arraignment notices served on them.
The prosecutor, therefore, asked if such a change stops the police from further arresting and arraigning Chief Amobi Uwaleke in other offences, having failed to honour all the invitations served on him. He cited Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which permits the Police to arrest and arraign a suspect.
After carefully listening to both the prosecuting and defence counsels, the presiding Magistrate, His Worship, O. J. Uzoechi, ruled thus: “If there is a pending suit/charge where the 1st defendant has been declared to be at large at the High Court of Imo State, this court has no jurisdiction to stop the arrest and/or apprehension of the person at large. No court of law, and I repeat, no court of law has the powers or jurisdiction to stop the Police from performing their constitutionally guaranteed duty under the law and statutes establishing same.”
“This application is overreaching, frivolous, and mischievously deceitful. It is a well-calculated attempt geared towards misleading this Honourable Court to make an unmeritorious, controversial order which this Honourable Court obviously lacks the jurisdiction to do.”
“This application lacks merit. It must fail, and I so hold. It is accordingly discharged. I make no order as to cost. The 1st defendant is hereby directed to honour the Police invitation, being an abiding citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Reacting to the arrest, the traditional ruler of Obibi Uratta, HRH Eze Boniface Ariri, commended the Police for finally arresting Chief Uwaleke, who he described as stubborn and one who has kept his community in trouble.
The Eze Udo IV of Obibi Uratta recalled how Chief Amobi Uwaleke flagrantly disobeyed Police orders not to carry out his personal Onwa Uratta festival, which resulted in a violent confrontation with the Police when he tried to gain entry into the Orie Uratta square to celebrate the Onwa Uratta already celebrated by all the traditional rulers of Uratta Ofor Asato Mbam Iri.
According to Eze Ariri, Chief Uwaleke has a lot of cases pending in the High Court Owerri, the High Court at Uratta, as well as the Magistrate Court, Owerri, and has for months been evading Police invitations to answer allegations bordering on criminal matters and acts capable of causing a breach of the peace.
He pointed out that despite a series of petitions written to the Police over the conduct of Chief Amobi Uwaleke and Police invitations, Chief Amobi had been acting as if he were above the law and beyond Police arrest. “But we are happy that the long arm of the law has finally caught up with him, and we are awaiting his arraignment before the court to answer to charges on his offences,” he said.
“By his arrest, it has reinforced our confidence in the Police. Initially, he almost made us lose confidence in the Police. We felt that he was above the law, as all reports and petitions against him never produced any positive result. I laud the Police for now doing their job the way it should be done.”
In his own comment, the National President General of Uratta, Engr. Chief Stanley Ukaga, said that Chief Uwaleke had tried to mislead and misinform the Police to evade arrest and arraignment for his actions and activities of 27th February 2024, when he tried to force himself to celebrate the Onwa Oru Uratta festival, which resulted in a fracas between Chief Uwaleke and the Police.
Continuing, the National President General of Uratta said that Chief Uwaleke petitioned the Inspector General of Police, trying to frame him and Eze Ariri for organizing youths to attack him, destroying his vehicle, and causing the violence that resulted in the death of one person.
However, he noted that the IGP handled the petition professionally and thereafter directed the Imo State Police Commissioner to investigate and arrest Chief Uwaleke, but he had been evading Police invitations.
Chief Ukaga noted that Chief Uwaleke and his counsel tried to mislead the Magistrate Court into believing that he was being hunted by the Police for the same case he was standing trial for before the Magistrate. He added that when it became clear that the case before the Magistrate Court was entirely different from that in the High Court, the trial Magistrate entered a judgement against Chief Uwaleke and asked him to respond to the Police invitation to stand trial at the High Court. The Magistrate’s order had been given for over one month until he was arrested by the Police on 3 October 2025.
