Family members of 14 suspects, detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Awkuzu, Anambra State Police Command, have declared that they wanted to know why police arrested and continued to detain their beloved ones.
As of August, 28, 2013, the detainees had spent 25 days over crime they know nothing about or had even committed.
Many of them had even demanded to be charged to court if police genuinely believe that they had committed any crime. The continual detention sharply contradicts police law, which stipulates that suspects should be charged to court, within 24 hours of the person arrest. The detention also makes mockery of human right laws in Nigeria.
Daily Newswatch gathered that about 33 lawyers who were not happy with the ‘illegality of the arrest of the Mokwe and his workers and subsequent’ demolition of his hotel, had taken up the legal battle against the state government and police, probono.
Trouble for the 14 detainees started after their boss, Mr. Bonaventure Mokwe, proprietor of a hotel, was arrested. Apparently not satisfied with arresting only the owner of the hotel, the police had also swooped on the workers. The suspects included the boss, while 13 are the workers.
Mr. Mokwe was alleged to have been arrested in connection with ‘ritual’ but the crime his workers were arrested over, had remained nebulous.
Among the detained workers are; A PHD student, Mr. Justine Nwankwo who is the manager of the prime suspect, Martina Ogboma, a cleaner, Chigozie Ikem, Service boy, Nkiru Nwachukwu, cook, Uche Ohaka, Bar man, amongst others.
Barely hours that Mr. Mokwe was arrested; his Upper Class Hotel situated at 8, Old Market Road, Onitsha, was levelled to the ground. He and his wife were allegedly taken to the site of the hotel and made to watch as the hotel was levelled. They also watched as looters, who were mysteriously on ground, looted the hotel before it was levelled down. After the looters finished with the hotel, they made a beeline for Mr. Mokwe’s Plaza, where they looted even shops of his tenants.
NOPRIN is particularly worried that mobile policemen, who had come to supervise the demolition of the hotel, made no move to stop the looters. NOPRIN has also raised some puzzling questions, which do not fit. One of the questions, according to NOPRIN is said that the room, where the two dried skulls were found is often used for ‘short time’ by paying customers and incidentally on that fateful day that police allegedly found the skulls, was a day, a paying customer, who used the room, had locked it.
Family members of Nkiru are particularly worried because she has four young kids, who are desperately wondering why their mummy had not been home for long.
Apparently worried that the police are not treating the detainees fair with respect to the rule of law, family members had gone to Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), a nongovernmental organisation to intervene.
NOPRIN spokesman, Okechukwu Nwanguma explained that on August 1, 2013, Police detectives who claimed to be acting on a tip-off, allegedly swooped on the hotel and headed straight to one of the rooms where they claimed to have recovered the two human heads and the arms and ammunition.
Nwanguma said: “The proprietor of the hotel, Mr. Mokwe and his workers were arrested and taken to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Awkuzu. The police also went after his wife, Mrs. Nkiru Mokwe, a lawyer and Chief State Counsel at the Anambra State Ministry of Justice. She was detained along with husband and the workers but she was later released after some hours.
“Governor Obi was quoted as saying that the State Government has also confiscated all assets belonging to Mr. Mokwe- the owner of the hotel. Mrs. Nkiru Mokwe has cried foul and questioned the rationale behind the demolition of her husband’s hotel. She also raised alarm that the life of her husband was in danger.
“The OC SARS Awkuzu, CSP Nwafor allegedly threatened to deal with Mr. Mokwe. “My husband is being detained in a very de-humanising condition at SARS and the police have denied him access to his lawyers and relations. Government has also threatened to further demolish his plaza at Ose-Okwodu and other properties belonging to him and members of his family. Indeed, my husband has not been given a fair hearing,” his wife said.”
According to Nwanguma, Mr. Mokwe and his workers, including a Doctorate student at Nnamdi Azikiwe University who works part time to pay for his studies, have remained in detention at SARS Awkuzu up to date without any indication from the police as to what next step they want to take.
Nwanguma said that following complaints received by NOPRIN on August, 4, that Mr. Mokwe was detained, chained and was being tortured, and amidst fears that he might be extra judicially killed in custody, NOPRIN had called the Officer in charge of SARS in Anambra State.
“We called and inquired directly from the OC SARS CSP Nwafor about this case and the condition of Mr. Mokwe in police custody. He only confirmed to us that Mr. Mokwe was still in their custody and alive. He however, refused to say whether- and how soon- the police will charge him to court or free him. Since then, we are informed, he has been unchained and his wife and counsel allowed to see him at given times of the day,” noted Nwanguma.
The spokesman insisted that the police violated Mr. Mokwe’s rights to due process and presumption of innocence by detaining him indefinitely.
Mr. Mokwe’s family members insisted that he was framed up by business rivals and enemies who had earlier threatened to plant incriminating objects and use the police to deal with him. They contend that the demolished hotel was a commercial property that was accessible to anyone who could pay for room rental and could plant human skulls there.
NOPRIN believes that if the police have credible evidence to prosecute the accused person and persons, they should not further delay to charge and arraign him before a competent court of jurisdiction.
“His continued detention in SARS cell without trial is illegal, unconstitutional and condemnable. NOPRIN has already petitioned the Inspector General of Police on this matter. The Nigerian Constitution contains, among other guarantees, rights to life, liberty, fair hearing and due process; prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and gives victims of human rights violations a right of access to courts for redress and remedies,” opined Nwanguma.
“We are particularly concerned about Mr. Peter Obi’s attitude and governance style that run diametrically opposed to- and flagrantly violate- the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. We are concerned about some of the Governor’s policies and actions (or inactions) which erode human rights, threaten public safety and subvert the due process and the rule of law.”
The human right activist maintained that the prevailing situation in Anambra State, whereby the governor demolishes the property of any person accused of a crime, without any judicial process or valid order of court amounted to lawlessness, adding: “ It is a policy that promotes self help. It is susceptible to abuse and creates room for the persecution or witch hunting of political opponents or personal vendetta. A person suspected or accused of a crime is entitled- under the constitution- to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Further, by demolishing the property that was the alleged crime scene, the governor and the police have tampered with and destroyed evidence. If the Governor who is the Chief Executive of the state does not believe in the rule of law and the due process, who else will?”
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