The woman, Mrs. Pamela Nnamani, further alleged that the policemen came along with thugs hired by her husband and mobile policemen attached to her husband. According to her, “my husband hired thugs to rape me in the presence of policemen.
The thugs inserted their fingers into my vagina and the policemen just watched.”
She said she was shocked the policemen refused to lend a helping hand to her, instead they watched as her husband and thugs manhandled her. She was further dumbfounded when the policemen joined in mistreating her.
Apparently, Nnamani and her husband had been having marital problems, leading to the man accusing her of ‘kidnapping their four kids.’ As the cracks in the marriage deepen, the husband dragged her to different police stations, beginning from Lagos down to Enugu.
Nnamani said that she was unlawfully detained by the policemen. According to her, she was almost raped by the thugs in the presence of the policemen. Nnamani said: “It was in the presence and under the supervision of Inspector Chijioke and Obi, the armed thugs escorting my husband, brutalized my mother, our children and myself. This was done in the presence of my husband. My husband instructed his thugs to rape me in the presence of the policemen. The thugs tore my pants and proceeded to insert their fingers into my vagina.
This made my mother to start shouting for help and escaped with my children.” She further alleged that her husband pursued her mother with a pistol, but when he couldn’t catch up with her mother, returned to the apartment and forcefully took her, assisted by the policemen and thugs out of the apartment. “They took me to a space of land between the Nigerian Law School, brought me out of the car, pinned me to the ground and threatened to shoot me if I didn’t produce the children,” recalled Nnamani. She said that the policemen physically assaulted her.
She wondered why the policemen were being callous to her, when they should have been protecting her. She added: “While this was going on, my husband was shouting, ‘I have paid your officer-in-charge, Mr. Alex for this job. I promised him more money. You people should do the job. I paid your policemen money. Rape her. All I want are my children.” S
he said that it was at that point that Inspector Chijioke and Obi proceeded to inflict pains on her. They allegedly beat her up with horsewhip. She said: “I was forcefully taken to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Enugu Police Command. It was there I met the officer in charge of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad Alex on January, 2016. I was bleeding profusely at the time I met Alex, yet he ordered that I should be detained in the male cell, whereupon I was manhandled and harassed by male suspects in the cell.”
According to her, on January 8, 2016, Alex requested that Nnamani should be brought out of the cell. On getting to his office, she met her husband and Alex in a heated argument. She claimed that the argument was over her husband’s insistence that he paid ‘good money’ to Alex to ‘do away’ with her and if she wasn’t killed in police custody by the end of that day, Alex should refund his money.
She said: “I was beaten up and returned to the cell. On that same day, I was called again to the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Oyekunle, with my husband in attendance. The DCP asked me to tell my side of the story after my husband had narrated his. Upon hearing my story, the DCP ordered my immediate release. I was shocked when my husband pounced on the DCP.
He rained insults on him and told him that he would ensure his dismissal from the police force.” Nnamani said that in spite of the intense provocation, the DCP maintained his cool and position. He further ordered Alex to immediately comply with his instructions and report back to him. The DCP said that the matter was a matrimonial matter, and that no crime had been established. The woman said that while they were in the DCP’s office, the DCP said he wasn’t even aware of the case until then. He asked his policemen while he was not briefed before of the case.
On January 10, 2016, her mother briefed the office of Stephen and Solomon Foundation, a Human Right Group to intervene in the matter. Nnamani said: “Chief Giwa- Amu, Counsel of Stephen and Solomon Foundation contacted the Nigeria Police Force Complaint Response Unit. The unit initiated an investigation into the matter.
Prior to the incident narrated above, sometime in May 5, 2013, my husband alleged that I kidnapped my own children. It was after this accusation, that the complaint was taken to Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), Adeniji Adele Street, Lagos Island.” The woman said that she was arrested on October 20, 2014, at 12 midnight by a team of policemen from FSARS. The team was led by one Dan.
She was unlawfully kept in police custody for a week without being arraigned in court. She was detained from November 6th to 13th, 2013. She was accused of kidnapping. She recollected: “The Commissioner of Police, in charge of FSARS paid a surprised visit to the cells. He saw me. My release was immediately ordered after the CP interviewed my husband in the presence of police officers.”
She said that on June 6, 2014, her husband wrote another petition against her mother, Rachael, alleging armed robbery, kidnapping and other offences. These allegations led to policemen from Ajiwe/Ajah Police Station, accompanied by some policemen from Enugu Command led by Chijioke and Obi to storm their home. She alleged that the policemen jumped the fence of the building in order to get access into the house and arrested her mother.
They also took her kids. The mother and kids were however released 24 hours after. On January 5, 2016, the same policemen from the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Enugu, forcefully entered her home and arrested her. When they got to their office, they showed her a petition written by her husband, alleging that she and her mother kidnapped the kids and sold them for ritual purposes. She said she was shocked at the petition because the policemen saw her kids when they came to Lagos, to arrest and take her to Enugu. Nnamani’s solicitor, Giwa-Amu and Company, accused the police of abuse of power and attempted murder.
Giwa-Amu has also written a letter to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, insisting that the woman’s husband, Inspector Chijioke, detective Obi and Alex, be probed over abuse of power. Giwa Amu said he was shocked that in spite of the fact that the police saw the supposed kidnapped kids when they came to arrest his client, the police still went ahead to arrest and detained her for a full week.
He said: “Throughout the interrogation and detention of our client, Inspector Chijioke and Obi subjected her to a humiliating body search. Our client has suffered both physical and mental torture. We apply for the transfer of all matters relating to or connected with this complaint to an independent police unit outside Enugu State Police Command for detailed and impartial investigation.” The husband’s lawyer said the woman was lying.
He explained that the couple has marital issues, but it was already being settled. He added: “Common sense should tell you that she’s lying. How can a man hire someone to rape his wife? You should be careful in your reportage to avoid libel. What they had was just a domestic issue. It’s fallancy. What she said never took place. Don’t mind her. You can even contact the police to find out the truth. The marital problem had been on for four years or so. But it’s being settled now.
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