My friend, Chuks Iloegbunam, is justified to be angry that a news report claimed that he has been arrested by security operatives for being in possession of electoral materials. He is also justified to be angry that the report has been linked to me. But it is not right to claim I took delight in the report of his so-called arrest.

This is what happened. When I got information two days ago that the police in Anambra State had caught a politician at Ukpor in Nnewi South Local Government Area printing ballot papers, I quickly contacted the editor of practically every daily newspaper in Nigeria, and gave them the telephone number of the Assistant Commissioner of Police handling the matter for confirmation and details. Later I received a press statement from my political associates describing the suspect as chairman of APGA in his place, with even an addendum that Iloegbunam, who works for Gov Peter Obi in Government House, Awka, had been arrested for possessing electoral boxes. I was flabbergasted. Chuks is not what Nigerians would call a professional politician. Besides, he is my friend. I told my associates I would not include the aspect about the so-called arrest, all the more so since it was not confirmed by security agents, unlike the report of a man caught printing ballot papers at Ukpor.

Consequently I deleted the second part of the story and forwarded the statement to the media. In other words, no editor in Nigeria received the so-called arrest of Iloegbunam from me. I also sent the edited story to a number of friends and link serves.  I was informed later that Ukpakareports could be interested to publish the story of how some people were trying to rig the election and advised to forward the report to it. I did. Unfortunately the original, unedited version was mistakenly sent from my in-box to Ukpakareports which innocently published it immediately. I was blissfully ignorant of the whole thing until the following morning when a friend called to break the news. I was naturally demoralised by the mistake. Chuks was not arrested. Therefore, the report is factually wrong. What is more, the subject is a friend.

The most logical thing was for me to call him quickly to apologise and explain the situation. I did not because I procrastinated. I actually do make social calls mostly at night. Chuks would testify that I have ever hardly called him in the daytime. But this is admittedly no excuse in this circumstance. Maybe, I did not quite have the courage to talk to him even on the phone!

It is unfair to claim that I was in a celebratory mood when I called a mutual friend about the report of the so-called arrest. I am certain that Oseloka Zikora did not say so and could not have. I called Zikora out of deep concern and asked him to find out the true situation. Of course, I told Zikora that the story of the arrest must be kept out of the press. Why didn’t I call Chuks directly? Well, he is a good friend. But for some reason we have not been in communication for upwards of four months.

I deeply regret that a press statement I mistakenly sent out from my in-box could cause him so much embarrassment. It is regrettable in particular that the daughter has been distraught. I accept full responsibility and apologise profusely for it.

C. DON ADINUBA