By Christopher Oji
Wife of a member of Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN), Awka branch, Anambra State, who was arrested by police on March 15, 2022, has raised the alarm over her husband’s alleged disappearance from police custody.
Mrs. Ebere Okonkwo, 28, said she started searching for her husband, Dubuem Okonkwo, who was arrested and paraded by Commissioner of Police, Echen Echen, at the Command Headquarters, Awka, and after the parade, he disappeared and is still missing. The mother of one, said her 45-year-old husband was picked up on the fateful day, at Unizik Junction Park, by the police, and was later paraded with other suspects by the state Commissioner of Police, who refused to tell the family or his association the offence he committed.
However, after two months of parading Dubem, also known as Aka Omere-ora, his wife, Ebere is left to manage their 22-month-old-child, Amanda, without any information about her husband.
“That is why I am crying to President Muhammadu Buhari, Inspector-General of Police, Women Affairs Minister, and well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on CP Echen and his subordinates, to bring my husband out from where he is hiding him. I am not disputing whether he committed a crime or not, but I want to know the crime he committed and to see him face-to-face and ask him some questions. If he has also been killed extra-judicially without trial, let me know. “The idea of referring us from one police station to the other, or police formations is not the best. If they have killed him as they have done to many hapless souls, let them save the family the inconveniences of searching for him and release his body for burial.
“My family has gone to the State Command Headquarters where he was paraded, and people who saw him told us that my husband was raising up his hands and asking questions about the offence he committed, and why he was being paraded for a crime he did not commit; but he was shouted down by the policemen guiding the suspects on the parade ground.
His photograph was taken by some people who were at the parade ground, so those who arrested him and paraded him should know his whereabouts, because we have his photograph while on the parade ground. If he is dead, let us know, and if he is still alive, let us know.”
The family lawyer, S. O Iwuoba of Standard Trust Chambers, corroborated Mrs. Oknkwo’s story.
In a petition to Anambra State Police Commissioner Police, he said: “We are solicitors to Engr Felix Ndubuisi, a relative to Mr. Chidubem Okonkwo, who was arrested by policemen from your Command and was paraded on March 17, 2022. Since after his parade, the said Okonkwo has not been seen by any member of his family. We, therefore, appeal to you to order the Awkuzu police division to grant access to our client and the family members of Okonkwo to see him.”
The lawyer said all efforts to see Okonkwo have proved abortive.