By ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA —  A top official of Abia State government has said Mr. Ebere Wabara, The Sun Newspapers’ Associate Editor, was arrested, last weekend, by the state police because of alleged falsehood published online against the governor, Theodore Orji and his family.

The official, who pleaded not to be named because he was not mandated to speak to press, explained that the editor, whose arrest warrant was issued by an Umuahia Chief Magistrate’s Court, had in addition to his write-ups in The Sun, written several damaging lies in an on-line medium, The City Reporters, which he alleged to be Mr. Wabara’s.

According to the source, Wabara allegedly went as far as accusing Governor Theodore Orji in the online publications of either “killing and kidnapping any person who refused to sell lands to him.”

The source said:  “He allegedly also said that the Governor’s first son, Chinedu, is a terrorist and that he killed his cousin, John Ndubuka. This is interesting as he will help the police to properly resolve the issue.

“These are very serious allegations. That is why a government official wrote a petition to the Police to arrest him to come and substantiate the allegations.

“In fact, the governor did not know about the petition. But we felt as government officials that we had to do something because the allegations were weighty, damaging and inciting.

“So based on the petition, the police did their work in line with the law and arrested him, and even granted him bail, only for him to jump bail. I think the police are handling the matter.

“But let people know that Wabara, apart from the attacks, had been waging war in The Sun against the governor, his family and government of Abia State. He was also using The City Reporters online to heap unprintable libelous, inciting and damaging allegations on the governor and his family members.

“So let him come and prove these allegations so that the people will now believe him, instead of jumping bail and running away.”

The source claimed that both family members and friends of the editor had at different times called him to find out why he embarked on the mission of damaging the governor and the family, and he asked them to leave him alone.