Controversy as police fail to account for whereabouts of man arrested in Anambra

Police in Anambra state, in south-eastern Nigeria, have reportedly failed to trace a 23-year-old man arrested for alleged murder in the state.

The suspect, Kosisochukwu Asadu, was arrested by police operatives of the Awkuzu Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in Oyi Local Government Area on November 11, 2022.

RRS Awkuzu is a disbanded police unit from the Special Anti-Robbery Region (SARS) which was disbanded following the #EndSARS protests across Nigeria in October 2020.

Mr. Asadu was arrested together with his 19-year-old sister, Daberechukwu Asadu in Igbo-Ukwu, a community in Aguata Local Government Area of ​​the state.

Police accused the couple of being outlawed members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and being responsible for the killing of three people they said were members of a vigilante group of the Igbo-Ukwu Community.

They are from Ibagwa-Aka, a community in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of ​​Enugu State, but live with their parents in Igbo-Ukwu Community, Anambra State.

On February 21, Ms. Asadu was arraigned before the Nnewi Magistrate’s Court and remanded in prison for the alleged murder, according to Harrison Gwamnishu, a human rights activist who raised the alarm over the incident. Twitter on April 8

Mr. Gwamnishu said that when he visited Ms. Asadu at the Onitsha Correctional Centre, when she was imprisoned, he told her (Gwamnishu) that she and her brother, Mr. Asadu, were “tortured and stripped” to force them to confess that they were members of IPOB.

The three persons allegedly killed by the two siblings are Emeka Okeke, Nnayelu Olis and Chukwuma Ubego, all males, according to a charge sheet posted by Mr Gwamnishu on Twitter.

Police have not released Mr Asadu’s whereabouts, although he was arrested along with his sister.

Mr. Asadu, unlike his sister, was not taken to court.

The sister, according to Mr. Gwamnishu, said she had not been seeing her brother because they were detained in different cells.

The April 4 charge sheet indicated that only the sister was being tried.

“When my husband asked to see him (Mr. Asadu), the policemen at Awkuzu station started beating him,” the suspects’ mother, Victoria, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday evening.

Arrest in controversial situations

The suspects’ mother, Victoria, told this newspaper how her children, two siblings, were arrested by the police under controversial circumstances.

He said at about 6.30pm on November 11 last year, a yet to be identified young boy, who was Mr Asadu’s secondary school classmate, called him and asked him to meet him at a bus stop in the community. .

But Mr. Asadu refused the request, explaining that he was under orders from his parents not to leave the house after 6 p.m., Ms. Victoria, who was with Ms. Asadu at her local restaurant shop, said at the time.

After much persuasion from the young boy, Mr. Asadu relented, but instead asked his sister, Mrs. Asadu, to go to the bus stop and take the classmate home to the family.

As a result, Mrs. Asadu took a motorcycle to fetch her brother’s classmate, not knowing that the boy was with a police team in the area.

“The place is very close. So when he didn’t come back after 30 minutes, my husband and I got worried. We called him by phone, but he did not pick up the call. We called Kosiso, his line was not going,” he recalled in the Igbo language.

“When we got to our house, we found that our door was open. The house was searched. The doors and windows were open. Our mattresses and chairs were destroyed. They turned the bags and boxes upside down,” said Mrs. Victoria.

The distraught parents started searching for their children the next day after reporting the incident to the community vigilance team.

Ms. Asadu said the phone she left was still connecting, two days later, but was not receiving or returning calls.

The couple visited several police stations on the same day after learning that some officers had raided the community. But they did not see their children in those stations.

The parents visited the RRS Awkuzu unit three times in a row, but authorities at the police unit said the two siblings were not in their custody.

The parents owner of the suspects, identified simply as Victor, later learned from someone who was released from the police unit in December that the two siblings were detained at the police facility, RRS Awkuzu.

Shocked, Mr. Victor and the suspects’ parents returned to the unit with the information. The agents later admitted that the two siblings were in the facility.

“The officers told us that our children are members of IPOB, but I told them that none of my children are members of IPOB,” said Mrs Victoria, the suspects’ mother.

“We only saw Daberechi. We did not see Kosisochukwu. Every time we asked for Kosisochukwu, the officers there threatened us with rifles,” the mother added.

He said their family had petitioned the Force Headquarters in Abuja over the incident.

Cash cow

Mrs. Victoria told PREMIUM TIMES that she and her husband, Romanus Asadu, lost a large sum of money in a bid to facilitate the release of their children from police custody.

“Anyone we call to help us will start asking for money. We have sold all our land properties to free our children, but in vain”, he lamented.

She said her husband has diabetes and the disease was affecting the family’s finances.

“We barely eat well. We are tired of life. I want to die.”

Some human rights activists who promised to help the family get justice have cheated them, Mr. Victor, the landlord, told PREMIUM TIMES.

More revelations

Mr. Victor told this newspaper that Mr. Asadu, one of the arrested suspects, was not in Igbo-Ukwu when the three vigilante operatives were shot dead in the community.

He said Mr. Asadu had traveled from Ibadan, Oyo State, southwest Nigeria, where he plays soccer for a local soccer club, to take his father, Romanus, to Nsukka, where he would undergo diabetes treatment.

“In fact, on the day they left for Nsukka, I helped them with a sum of money, because the family is not financially well”, he recalled.

He said three weeks after the incident in the community, Mr. Asadu and his father returned from Nsukka, where they went for treatment.

He said that after three more weeks the police came to the community with the boy, arrested the sister who went to pick up the boy from the bus stop and forced them to take their family home to arrest his brother. .

The boy revealed that Romanus’ son (Mr. Asadu) was one of the gang members who killed the Igbo-Ukwu security personnel here,” Mr. Victor said.

This is how the agents also arrested him (Asadu).

Mr. Victor said when he met the police unit officer Patrick Agbazue in his office, because of the incident, he (Victor) should have talked about the release of Mrs. Asadu and that Mr. Asadu would never have it. let go

Mr. Victor said the officer refused his request to at least see Mr. Asadu and speak to him.

Mr Agbazue is among three officers of the unit being investigated by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Usman Alkali (IGP) for alleged involvement in illegal arrests and extrajudicial killings and organ harvesting. among others.

The investigation against the agents began in mid-February 2023, about three months after the arrest of the two siblings.

The IGP is included

Fed up with the development, Mr. Victor helped the family petition the IGP, who quickly set up a panel to investigate the matter.

Mr. Victor said that when members of the panel arrived in Awka, the Anambra State capital, and asked about the whereabouts of Mrs. Asadu, Mr. Agbazue said she charged him to court.

“The judge asked him (Agbazue): ‘Who authorized the lady to be charged to court? Did the Commissioner of Police know about the court matter, did the IGP or the AIG know about it? He (Agbazue) said no one (authorized the lady to be charged to court)'”, stated Mr. Victor.

“But we told you that we would come on this date to investigate this matter. Why didn’t you wait for us to come?” Mr. Victor mentioned that the members of the panel told Mr. Agbazue.

“He couldn’t defend himself,” Mr Victor added.

“So, in that case, the members of the jury, who are also police officers, said that since the girl has been charged in front of the court, they can’t do anything. But if they had known the girl who is in police custody, they would have set her free.”

He said the panel members also asked them about Mr. Asadu, who they had not seen since his arrest, to which Agbazue replied that he was away when Mr. Asadu was arrested.

The head of the RRS Unit, Mr. Victor, told the panel that he also did not meet Mr. Asadu when he returned from the trip.

According to Mr. Victor, Mr. Agbazue said he did not charge Mr. Asadu to court. The officer did not disclose the whereabouts of Mr. Asadu.

Killed for organ harvesting?

Mr. Victor said the panel members decided to investigate the whereabouts of Mr. Asadu at RRS Unit Awkuzu and then asked Romanus, the father of the suspect, to give his side of the story in writing and await the outcome of the investigation.

“So as we stand now, the police have not told us what happened to the boy (Mr. Asadu). But I have solid information that the boy was among those who were unjustly killed by them (RRS Unit Awkuzu authorities),” he stated.

Curiously, the boy who said he and Mr. Asadu were allegedly members of the gang that kills the guards is still alive and was not charged in court, according to Mr. Victor.

“I’m surprised to notice that,” he said.

Research outcome unknown

Mr Victor said members of the panel later informed them that investigations into Mr Asadu’s whereabouts had been concluded, but refused to disclose its outcome to the family.

He said the panel only said that they submitted the investigation report to the IGP for action.

“As we are now, we are waiting for the Force Headquarters to announce the outcome of the investigation. Even the Force PRO who personally came to Anambra for this case has not told us anything,” he said.

Force spokesperson Olumuyiwa Adejobi did not respond to calls for comment on the matter.

After receiving a text message, he replied from the same medium, asking for details of the given case.

But Mr. Adejobi, the senior superintendent of police, did not respond to subsequent calls and text messages seeking comment on Mr. Asadu’s whereabouts.