Chijioke, 26, of Amodu Awkunanaw, Nkanu-West Local Government Area of Enugu State, was arrested on April 3, 2016, by the police in the Agbani area of the state.
Chijioke was reportedly taken into custody after one Ebuka, who was earlier apprehended by the police for being in possession of a cloth with secret cult insignia, mentioned his name as the owner of the material. But Ebuka was released afterwards.
Meanwhile, Chijioke’s mother said that operatives from the Agbani police division conducted a search at her residence on April 4, 2016, but no incriminating item was found in her son’s possession.
The septuagenarian added that her in-law, Ifeanyi, and his wife subsequently went to the police station to give Chijioke food and also find out the offence for which he was arrested, but ended up being detained for one week, even though Chijioke had been transferred to the Nigeria Police Distress Call Base, Enugu.
The in-law, Ifeanyi, and his wife were released on bail about a week later, after paying an undisclosed sum of money.
Chijioke’s mother added that since her son’s detention at the Distress Call Base in April, she only saw him once, sometime in May 2016, with the assistance of a lawyer she engaged.
She disclosed that on several occasions when she brought food to Chijioke at the police facility, she was turned back at the gate.
Chijioke’s mother said she was informed by unofficial sources that her son was killed in police custody.
A human rights lawyer, Mr. Olu Omotayo, of the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, has taken up the case and written a petition to the Police Service Commission to prosecute the police officers involved in the alleged extra-judicial killing.
All efforts to get the spokesperson for the Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, were futile as his telephone number did not go through as of the time of publication of this report.
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