Police arrest, detain man over late brother’s debt

 By Juliana Francis 

CP Janet

A woman, Mrs. Lewechi Ogbonna, has narrated how four policemen, armed with AK47 rifles, from Abia State Police Command, stormed Lagos State to arrest her husband, Victor Ogbonna. 

According to her, the police thereafter attempted to intimidate her husband to pay his late brother’s debt. Lewechi said that on February 10, 2021, her husband was woken up from sleep by a call from his cousin, Ikenna, who told him that he got information that policemen from Umuahia in Abia State were coming for him. She said: “Just as my husband was about to leave for his business in his late brother’s car, the four policemen appeared from nowhere and surrounded the car.

The policemen were armed with AK47 rifles and canisters of tear gas. They wore vests with an inscription, ‘Anti-Kidnapping Unit,’ Umuahia. The policemen handcuffed my husband.” Lewechi said that when the policemen were asked to identify themselves, they refused and instead threatened to use tear gas on her.

The Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, a human rights activist, who followed up the case, demanding Victor should be released. Nwanguma said Victor’s arrest and transfer to another state, over a civil matter, contravened the law and his fundamental human rights. Victor was marched to Ifako Police Station, with the policemen intermittently threatening to deal with him. Victor, who spoke with our reporter days after he was released, said he was detained for five days, with the police refusing to allow him access to his medicine.

 

Remembering how he became a guest in a police cell, Victor said: “My late brother, Chukwudi Ogbonna, had a car. I’m his next of kin. After his burial, I decided to bring the car down to Lagos. One of his friends, Mr. Echerobia Martins, claimed Chukwudi borrowed money from him and promised to pay him with interest. He admitted that my brother had paid some of the money. I was not aware of the transaction between them. My sister said the money left to pay Echerobia was N300,000, while he insisted it was N780,000. I then asked for documents to prove the amount borrowed, paid and balance of payment and agreement.

I told him that I would immediately offset the loan if he shows me those documents, but he couldn’t. He went to the police and someone, who claimed to be a policeman, started calling me to come to a police station in Abia State. I only demanded a police letter of invitation and the said policeman started threatening me.” Victor added that the police and complainant wanted him to swap his brother’s car for the loan, but he refused. Traumatised by his encounter with the policemen, Victor said: “I was detained for five days, over a civil matter. At that Central Police Station, Umuahia, there are three cells. Cell 1 had 29 detainees, Cell 2 had 28, while Cell 3, where I was detained, had 10 of us. They were all crowded.

But the suspects in Cell 3 with me, were kidnappers and armed robbers. Police detained me with criminals! “The detainees told me themselves that they were armed robbers and kidnappers. Some of them said they had been in that police cell since November last year.

The policemen refused to allow me access to my medicine.” His wife, continuing the story, said the policemen told her husband their boss, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Remy Chukwuani, would deal with him. It was learnt that after Chukwudi’s death, Victor’s cousin, Ikenna, advised him to change the ownership of the car to his name since they allegedly couldn’t locate the papers to the car. Ikenna went further to get an agent, who did the change of ownership and also changed the number plate, said Lewechi.

Lewechi recounted that Victor was transferred to Umuahia in handcuffs and his phone confiscated. She added: “We got to Central Police Station, Umuahia about 9pm on February 11, 2021. Immediately, the CSP, Chukwuani, started threatening to deal with my husband for not honouring his invitation.

He said he would keep my husband in cell until he had learnt his lesson. He called my husband a criminal and ordered that nobody should be allowed to see him in the cell.” The following morning, Lewechi went to the station, hoping to see the complainant, so that the matter would be quickly settled.

But the complainant didn’t come. She alleged: “I had to pay money each time I wanted to see my husband. I paid at the counter and had to give money individually to officers on duty just so I could see my husband. My husband told me that the OC gave orders that nobody should be allowed to visit or give him food. He equally told me that each cell contained 28 detainees. The cells, which he described as hellholes could be 6 x 8 in size. There is no space to sit let alone lie down. The cells stank of human waste.

The toilet and bathroom are not fit for human use. They are in a state of disrepair and decay. He was very frantic to leave the place. “The IPO came and said that my husband had been summoned to the OC’s office. They brought him out and all of us went to the OC’s office. When we got there, my husband was made to sit on the floor. The OC pronounced my husband guilty and called him, ‘hardened criminal with a guilty intention.’

That if he was to be arraigned in court, he would get nothing less than seven years imprisonment. He told my husband that he had no choice but to release the car to the complainant, pay for the expenses the police incurred coming to Lagos to arrest him and then bail himself.” Meanwhile, Nwanguma, on February 13, 2021, wrote a petition to the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Janet Agbede, calling her attention to Victor’s unlawful detention over a civil dispute. Nwanguma urged the CP to tell Chukwuani, Inspector Sylvester Ike and other police officers under her command to release Victor and save him from further victimisation, oppression and abuse of power. He added: “The policemen presented no warrant even when requested. They said they were sent by Chukwuani, the O/C Anti-Kidnap-ping Unit to arrest Victor.

When we inquired from Inspector Ike, about Victor’s offence, he said ‘Advance Fee Fraud’. They took him to Ifako Police Station in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, where he was detained until the next day before they took him in his own car to Umuahia and detained him at the Central Police Station (CPS), Umuahia and his car confiscated and parked at the station.

“The next day, a lawyer appeared but was not allowed access to his client. It took the intervention of the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) before the lawyer could see him. “The policemen wanted Victor to pay a certain debt the complainant claimed Victor’s late brother owed him. They also suggested to him to give up his car, which previously belonged to his deceased brother in order to be released.

It was clear that the complainant, who is demanding that Victor pay him unverified debts allegedly owed him by his deceased brother is working in collusion with Chukwuani and others, to intimidate Victor in order to pay debt, extort money from him and take his car away from him.

“It is unbecoming of a senior police officer of the rank of a CSP to compromise and bring the name of the police to disrepute by abusing his police powers and dabbling into a civil dispute that ought to be resolved by the court. “It is nothing short of wickedness for the officers to arrest, detain beyond lawful duration, and subject an innocent citizen to suffering and intimidation to part with money and his car.” Barrister Chidi Nwachukwu, who was at Umuahia on behalf of Victor, said he was there on February 12, but the OC, IPO and other policemen involved in the case were not around.

He said: “We waited until about 4pm when the OC returned. We applied for bail but he declined to discuss it on the grounds that he had not even seen his men who went for the arrest. We understood the game he was playing. He said we could discuss on February 15. We asked to come back the following day, but he refused.

“I understood that as soon as we left, they brought Victor out from the cell and tried to intimidate him into entering into an agreement but he refused. “We were back at the station on February 15. We had to wait for the OC to come back and as soon as he returned, he was visibly on fire. He complained about the petition written against him by RULAAC and declared that bail was no longer going to be discussed. “He ordered the IPO to handcuff Victor and charge him to court. We knew that was the best thing at the moment. All we did was to make sure he was serious about going to court. We then went to the court. At the court, we applied for the bail of the defendant and the application was granted.”