On December 3, 2025, the international organisation, Blueprint for Free Speech, announced the winners of its Whistleblowing Prize, which celebrates individuals exposing corruption and human rights abuses.
Among the awardees was Nnamdi Emeh, a young man who has spent almost three years in a correctional centre in Anambra State for alleged whistleblowing. The 2025 awards marked the eighth edition of the global recognition programme.
According to organisers, the prizes highlighted disclosures against institutions including Meta, South Africa’s state training institution, Ecuador’s armed forces, and the Nigerian police.
Blueprint said the awards underscored the vital role whistleblowers play in exposing corruption in multinational corporations, public offices, and armed forces, while also drawing attention to the severe retaliation many face, ranging from gag orders to imprisonment and assassination attempts.
While others collected their awards on stage, Emeh remained remanded at the Anambra Correctional Centre, despite having been granted bail by the court.
Emeh’s ordeal began during his National Youth Service Corps year in 2022, when he was posted as an IT consultant to the Anambra Rapid Response Squad, where he was tasked with helping the police track criminals using technology.
In February 2023, a popular blog, Gistlover, published allegations against Anambra police officer Patrick Agbazue, accusing him of kidnapping, extortion, killing, and even harvesting organs. The report further claimed that Agbazue transferred the bodies of those who died in custody to New World Mortuary in Nteje, Anambra.
Following the allegations, the Police Service Commission launched an investigation and took Agbazue into custody for claims of torture, illegal detention, and other abuses, before transferring him to Abuja for further questioning. Then Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, also set up a panel to probe the claims.
After the leak, Emeh’s identity was revealed on social media as the source of the information, prompting him to flee to Benin Republic. He was arrested in March 2023 on an Interpol Red Notice and returned to Nigeria.
The police subsequently filed 12 charges against him, including illegal possession of firearms, money laundering, defamation, hacking into the account of Chibuike Martins Ekwueme, and transferring N47m from the account to another.
In 2023, Justice F.O. Riman granted Emeh bail in the sum of N50m with two sureties of like sum, requiring landed property within the jurisdiction and proof of three years’ tax payment.
Nnamdi’s counsel, Justus Ijeomah, told our correspondent on Sunday that both the police and court officials tried to frustrate the process of perfecting the bail.
He explained that the authorities even requested a new set of sureties without explanation.
He said, “When we wanted to perfect the bail, one of the things we noticed was that Nnamdi’s passport was in the custody of the police in Abuja, and part of the conditions is to deposit the passport with the registrar of the court. So we told the court to expunge the part of that condition or order the police to release the passport. So the police released the passport at the order of the court,” Ijeomah said.
“While we were trying to perfect the bail, the hearing commenced and in the process, Justice Riman passed away, and the hearing was stalled. While still trying to perfect the bail, we noticed that the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court apparently became a stumbling block for us to perfect the bail, and this made me write a petition against her at the Federal High Court. It was at that point that I left the case, and a learned Senior Advocate took over.”
Beyond alleged motives to keep him incarcerated, there were serious concerns for Emeh’s safety while in police and prison custody.
He said, “We started intervening in the matter from the moment Nnamdi was to be brought back from Abuja to Anambra when there was apprehension that certain ominous things were to befall him in the hands of those who were bringing him back. So we engaged the police to ensure his rights were not violated.”
The counsel also clarified that Emeh denied releasing the information to the blog, describing the claims attributed to him as mere speculation.
For Prof Ikechukwu Emeh, the international recognition of his only child came with mixed feelings. “I’m excited about that. Okay, to start this. I’m excited. We are happy. I’m happy about the award. It allows the world to know what is going on with my son, and then in the rotten society we are living in,” he told our correspondent on Sunday.
According to him, Nnamdi is expected in court again on Tuesday to face hearings on charges ranging from money laundering and fraud to impersonation and defamation. He also noted that the police did not accuse his son of giving false information, which he claimed was significant.
Describing the ordeal as traumatic, the octogenarian recalled the family’s struggle to meet the strict bail conditions set by the Federal High Court in Awka, which required two sureties with property within the court’s jurisdiction. He also accused the police of blocking the bail applications at critical stages.
“It has been a harrowing experience for the entire family, a huge trauma. To begin with, all these court appearances and the police kept complicating matters at every turn. They were supposed to grant him bail, and we were supposed to perfect the bail conditions. At one point, in May 2024, we finally managed to meet the bail conditions after spending a lot of money, and the judge signed the release order for him to be freed. Then the prosecuting police officer came to court and blocked it,” he said.
With court delays and police interference, the financial cost has been overwhelming. The academic also lamented the toll on his health and that of his wife: “We are completely impoverished to hire a lawyer, some of them who charge up to N8m just to come and defend him. Some of the sureties, too, we spent over N10m on them. Every time we get them, the police will block his release. I am completely impoverished, and I’m now suffering from high blood pressure. My wife is suffering from high blood pressure. We are completely devastated by this case.”
The continued remand of Emeh despite being granted bail by the court has been widely condemned by civil society organisations worldwide. Police authorities have also been petitioned by rights activists.
Our correspondent gathered that the investigation into the allegations against the officers has yet to be made public, and the implicated officers remain in active service.
Executive Director of Nigerian civil rights group, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said the fundamental problem in Emeh’s case is impunity.
He said the police treated Emeh not as a whistleblower who exposed grave human rights abuses, but as an enemy to be crushed.
“Instead of investigating the serious allegations of extrajudicial killings, organ harvesting, and extortion, the police turned their machinery against the messenger. What followed has been a systematic abuse of the criminal justice process, the use of trumped-up charges, manipulation of court processes, transfer of the suspect across multiple detention facilities, and deliberate disobedience of court orders. His prolonged incarceration, despite meeting bail conditions and having a signed release warrant, can only be explained as an attempt to silence him and shield those implicated,” he disclosed.
He noted that Nigeria has virtually no functional protection for whistleblowers, particularly those exposing security agencies.
The Executive Director of the international NGO, Blueprint for Free Speech, Suelette Dreyfus, also called for immediate action.
She said, “We call for the immediate release of Nnamdi Emeh in accordance with judicial orders issued by the Nigerian courts. He has been granted bail and should not spend a minute longer in jail. We are not pronouncing on the veracity or otherwise of the allegations being made about grave human rights abuses committed by members of the Nigerian police.
“Many unanswered questions remain in this case, but the safety of whistleblowers who bring to light any evidence of wrongdoing in the public interest remains of paramount importance. The Nigerian authorities must investigate the threats against Nnamdi Emeh’s life without delay, and ensure his safety while in custody and upon his release.”
Efforts to reach the Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, were unsuccessful as calls and text messages were not returned at the time of filing this report. – Punch.
