A woman, Mrs Ebele Ogbogu, on Thursday, told the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)’s independent investigative panel on defunct SARS and other police units that for the past seven years she had yet to know the whereabouts of her husband after his arrest in December 2013.
The woman alleged enforced disappearance of her husband, Mr Emmanuel Ogbogu, against Celestine Ani of the defunct Awkwuzu SARS; the officer in charge of the Squad in Awkwuzu, James Nwafor; the Anambra State Commissioner of Police and the Inspector-General of Police in her petition before the panel.
Narrating what happened, Ogbogu told the panel that her husband was arrested on December 13, 2013, by some policemen who she later learnt were from the Awkwuzu SARS.
According to her, she had been going around different police formations without seeing him, saying that she was afraid if her husband was alive or not.
“On December 13, 2013, my husband went to water our blocks. Some people came in and arrested my husband. He thought they were kidnappers. So he was shooting kidnappers, kidnappers.
“We later learnt that the people were SARS officers. I have an in-law who is married to my cousin there. I called him and he asked me to come and see him.
“On December 16, 2013, I went to see him but he walked away on seeing me. I called him on phone and he told me that I came with someone, that was why he went away.
“My father-in-law, my husband brother have been going to the SARS office without seeing my husband. There was a time my father-in-law went there with elders of the village and they told them that Nwafor was not on seat and that they should come back another time.
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“We have been going around police stations but cannot see my husband. I am bothered if he is still alive,” the petitioner told the panel.
She added that nobody has been able to tell her anything about the whereabouts as he was yet to be found, saying that, “they have been hiding something from me about him.”
Asked what she wanted, Ogbogu told the panel that she wanted the respondents to produce her husband.
She, however, pleaded with the panel to issue witness summon on three persons, including her brother-in-law to come and testify before the panel on the issue.
Counsel for the panel, Kwadundi Okoh, had earlier informed the panel that the NHRC had written a letter to the Inspector-General of Police based on Ogbogu’s petition.
According to her, the IGP office responded on November 19, informing that the matter had been referred to the Anambra State Commissioner of Police to investigate and revert to the IGP.
Meanwhile, counsel for the respondents, G.C. Ijeoma, informed that the first and second respondents had retired from the police about two years ago.
He pleaded with the panel to exercise a little patience since the Anambra CP had been directed to do an internal investigation, saying that, “an investigation report is expected to be produced after the investigation is conducted.”
He assured the panel that he would do a followup signal to the Anambra Police Command with a view to locating where the first and second respondents are currently.
The panel then adjourned the petition till March 2, 2021, and directed the counsel for the respondents to do a followup signal to locate Celestine Ani and James Nwafor.
I don’t know my husband’s whereabouts since his arrest seven years ago, woman tells panel
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