By Peter Onyekachukwu 
BY Peter Onyekachukwu
An Ebonyi-based journalist, Prince Anyigor Maduabuchi, has reportedly fallen ill and collapsed inside the Abakaliki Correctional Centre, weeks after he was arrested and secretly arraigned for allegedly criticising Governor Francis Nwifuru on Facebook.
Sources within the prison told our correspondent on Friday that the journalist, who works with Just Online Eagles Media, was in critical condition before he suddenly collapsed.
“He is critically sick and collapsed earlier today. His health is really bad. He told us he had a heart disease before being arrested,” a prison official disclosed.
Maduabuchi was arrested on September 25 by operatives of the Crack Squad of the Ebonyi State Police Command and later charged to court without legal representation.
According to sources, he was secretly arraigned before a magistrate on October 3 and subsequently remanded at the Abakaliki Correctional Centre.
“He was initially detained for eight days at the Crack Squad office in Abakaliki before being taken to court,” one source said. “The arraignment was done secretly, so he had no lawyer to apply for bail. The case was adjourned to October 14, but the court hasn’t sat again since then.”
The journalist’s arrest followed posts on Facebook in which he reportedly criticised the state government and Governor Nwifuru’s leadership style.
Human rights activists have described his ordeal as an attack on press freedom, calling for his immediate release and medical attention.
As of the time of filing this report, officials of the Ebonyi State Government and the Nigerian Correctional Service were yet to comment on the journalist’s condition.