By Evelyn Usman
The 28-year-old mother of one, Ebere Okonkwo, who raised the alarm over the disappearance of her husband, Chidubuem Okonkwo, from the custody of the Police in Anambra State, last week, has disclosed that he was allegedly killed inside the cell of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Awka.
She told Vanguard that her late husband who was a member of the Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria, TOAN Awka branch, Anambra State, was arrested at Unizik junction park, on March 15, 2022, over an undisclosed offence.
Thereafter, she said he was paraded by the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Police Command, CP Echen Echen, at the Command Headquarters Awka, without any explanation of his offence, by the command.
Apprehension, according to her, set in, as she and her in-laws were deprived of reaching her 48-year-old husband after the parade until they were informed recently that he was allegedly killed in the cell.
Lamenting, she said: “ We were told he was tortured to death in the cell. Who paid the police to kill him? What offence could he have committed that warranted his being killed extrajudicially without trial? Why didn’t they charge him to court?”, she asked rhetorically.
Recalling her last moment with him, the distraught widow said, “ Dubem left the house on March 15, 2022, bidding my daughter and me goodbye, unknown to me he was bidding us a final farewell.
“Later that day, I received a call from one of his friends that some policemen stormed the motor park and arrested some people, including my husband. When I asked what his offence was, he said the Police told them they would know when they got to the station. I was a little bit at peace since he was not kidnapped. I was also not disturbed because I knew he had never been involved in any crime.
“I contacted some of his relatives and when we got to the command, we were not allowed to see him. He was paraded on the third day among other suspects by the Commissioner of Police, CP Echen Echen. At the parade, my husband raised his hand to demand what his offence was but the policeman there told him to keep shut and he was taken back to the cell.
“By the time we collected a copy of the press statement shared by the CP, my husband’s name was not among those mentioned in the statement.
“We were prevented from seeing him, even when we hired the services of a legal practitioner, the police kept referring us from one police station or department to another”.
Noting that the incident had shattered her, her 22 months old baby and her Octogenarian father-in-law, she, therefore, called on the Federal Government to prevail on the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Alkali Usman Baba, to fish out those who killed her husband and also to release his body to the family for burial.
Spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed that late Okonkwo was paraded by the Commissioner of Police. But he was yet to respond to a text message sent to him on his alleged killing inside the cell.
