April 15, 2023


The police in Anambra State, south-east Nigeria, have reportedly failed to produce a 23-year-old man arrested for alleged murder in the state.

The suspect, Kosisochukwu Asadu, was arrested by police operatives from Rapid Response Squad (RRS) Awkuzu in Oyi Local Government Area of the state on 11 November, 2022.

RRS Awkuzu is a police unit created from the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) following the #EndSARS protest across Nigeria in October 2020.

Mr Asadu was arrested alongside his 19-years-old sister, Daberechukwu Asadu in Igbo-Ukwu, a community in Aguata Local Government Area of the state.

The police accused the duo of being members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra and being responsible for the murder of three persons said to be members of a vigilante group in the Igbo-Ukwu Community.

They hail from Ibagwa-Aka, a community in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State, but reside with their parents in Igbo-Ukwu Community, Anambra State.

On 21 February, Ms Asadu was arraigned before Nnewi Magistrate Court, which remanded her in prison for the alleged murder, according to Harrison Gwamnishu, a human rights activist, who raised alarm about the incident on Twitter on 8 April.

Mr Gwamnishu said when he visited Ms Asadu at Onitsha Correctional Centre, where she was remanded, she told him (Gwamnishu) that she and her brother, Mr Asadu, were “tortured and stripped naked” to compel them to confess being members of IPOB.

The three people allegedly killed by the two siblings are Emeka Okeke, Nnayelu Olis and Chukwuma Ubego – all males, according to a charge sheet posted by Mr Gwamnishu on Twitter.

The police have failed to account for the whereabouts of Mr Asadu, despite being arrested alongside her sister. Mr Asadu, unlike his sister, was not arraigned in court. The sister, according to Mr Gwamnishu, said she had not been seeing her brother because they were detained in different cells. The charge sheet, dated 4 April, indicated that only the sister was being prosecuted.

“When my husband asked to see him (Mr Asadu), the police officers at the Awkuzu station started beating him,” the suspects’ mother, Victoria, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday evening.

Arrest under controversial circumstances

The suspects’ mother, Victoria, narrated to this newspaper how her children, the two siblings, were arrested by the police under controversial circumstances.

She said at about 6:30 p.m. on 11 November, last year, a yet-to-identified young boy, who was Mr Asadu’s secondary school classmate, called him on the phone and asked him to meet him at a bus stop in the community.

But Mr Asadu declined the request, explaining that he was under instruction from his parents not to step out of the house after 6 p.m., according to Mrs Victoria, who was at her local restaurant shop, alongside Ms Asadu, at the time.

After long persuasions from the young boy, Mr Asadu yielded, but instead, asked his sister, Ms Asadu, to go to the bus stop and bring the classmate to their family house.

Ms Asadu, consequently, took a motorcycle to bring her brother’s classmate, unaware that the boy was with a team of police officers in the area.

“The place is very close. So, when she didn’t return after 30 minutes, my husband and I became worried. We called her on the phone, but she didn’t pick up the call. We called Kosiso, his line was not going,” she recalled in Igbo language.

“When we got to our house, we saw our gate was left open. The house had been ransacked. The doors and windows were open. Our mattresses and chairs were destroyed. Bags and boxes were turned upside down,” Mrs Victoria narrated.

The distraught parents began searching for their children, the next day, after reporting the incident to the community’s vigilante group.

She said the phone which Ms Asadu left with was still connecting, two days after, but that she was neither picking up her calls nor returning them.

The couple visited several police stations after they learnt that some officers raided the community on the same day. But did not see their children in those stations.

The parents visited the RRS Awkuzu unit over three consecutive times, but authorities at the police unit claimed the two siblings were not in their custody.

The landlord to the suspects’ parents, simply identified as Victor, would later learn from someone who was released from the police unit in December, that the two siblings were being held at the police facility, RRS Awkuzu.

Astonished, Mr Victor and the suspects’ parents returned to the unit with the information. The officers later admitted that the two siblings were being held in the facility.

“The officers told us that our children are IPOB members, but I told them that none of my children was an IPOB member,” Mrs Victoria, the suspects’ mother, said.

“We only saw Daberechi. We didn’t see Kosisochukwu. Each time we asked for Kosisochukwu, the officers there would threaten us with rifles,” the mother added.


She said their family had petitioned the Force Headquarters in Abuja over the incident.

Cash cow

Mrs Victoria told PREMIUM TIMES that she and her husband, Romanus Asadu, had lost a huge amount of money in a bid to facilitate the release of their children from police custody.

“Anybody we call to help us will start demanding money from us. We have sold all our landed properties to effect the release of our children, but to no avail,” she lamented.

She said her husband suffers from diabetes and that the sickness was already taking a toll on the family’s finances.

“We barely feed well right now. We are tired of life. I want to just die.”

Some human rights activists who promised to help the family get justice have defrauded them, Mr Victor, the landlord, told PREMIUM TIMES.

More revelations

Mr Victor told this newspaper that Mr Asadu, one of the arrested suspects, was not in Igbo-Ukwu when the three vigilante operatives were shot dead in the community.

He said Mr Asadu had returned from Ibadan, Oyo State, south-west Nigeria, where he plays football for a local football club, to take his father, Romanus, to Nsukka where he would undergo treatment for diabetes.

“In fact, the day they were going to Nsukka, I supported them with a sum of money because the family is not financially buoyant,” he recalled.

He said after three weeks of the incident in the community, Mr Asadu and his father returned from Nsukka, where they had gone for treatment.

He said it was after additional three weeks that the police came to the community with the boy, arrested the sister who had gone to pick up the boy from the bus stop and forced her to take them to their family house in order to arrest her brother.

The boy pointed at Romanus’ son (Mr Asadu) as one of the gang members that killed the vigilante operatives in Igbo-Ukwu here,” Mr Victor said.

That was how the officers arrested him (Asadu) too.

Mr Victor said when he met the officer-in-charge of the police unit, Patrick Agbazue in his office, over the incident, he told him that he (Victor) should be talking about the release of Ms Asadu and that Mr Asadu would never be released.

Mr Victor said the officer refused to grant his request to let him see Mr Asadu and speak with him, at least.

Mr Agbazue, a chief superintendent of police, is among three high-ranking officers from the unit being investigated by the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali (IGP) over their alleged involvement in illegal arrests and extra-judicial killings and organ harvesting, among others.

The investigation against the officers began in mid-February 2023, about three months after the arrest of the two siblings.


IGP wades in

Miffed by the development, Mr Victor assisted the family to petition the IGP who quickly set up a panel to investigate the matter.

Mr Victor said when the panel members arrived Awka, Anambra State capital, and asked about the whereabouts of Ms Asadu, Mr Agbazue said he had charged her to court.

“The panel asked him (Agbazue), ‘who authorised the charging of the lady to court? Did the commissioner of police know about the court matter, did the IGP or AIG know about it? He (Agbazue) said nobody (authorised him to charge the lady to court),’” Mr Victor stated.

“But we told you that we were coming on this date to investigate this matter. Why didn’t you wait for us to come?” Mr Victor quoted the panel members as telling Mr Agbazue.

“He couldn’t defend himself,” Mr Victor added.

“So, in that case, the panel members, who are also police officers, said since the girl has been charged to court, there is nothing they can do. But if they had met the girl in police custody, they would have set her free.”

He said the panel members also enquired about Mr Asadu, who had not been seen since his arrest, and Mr Agbazue responded that he was away when Mr Asadu was arrested.

The RRS Unit boss, Mr Victor said, also told the panel that he did not meet Mr Asadu when he returned from his trip.

According to Mr Victor, Mr Agbazue said he did not charge Mr Asadu to court. The officer failed to give an account of Mr Asadu’s whereabouts.

Killed for organ harvesting?

Mr Victor said the panel members resolved to investigate the whereabouts of Mr Asadu at the RRS Unit Awkuzu and subsequently, asked Romanus, the suspect’s father, to put down his side of the story in writing and await the outcome of their investigation.

“So, as we are now, the police have not told us what happened to the boy (Mr Asadu). But I have strong information that the boy was among those they (authorities of the RRS Unit Awkuzu) killed unjustly,” he stated.

Curiously, the boy who had claimed that he and Mr Asadu were members of the gang that allegedly kill the vigilante operatives is still alive and was not charged to court, according to Mr Victor.

“I am shocked to notice that,” he said.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/593465-controversy-as-police-fail-to-account-for-whereabouts-of-man-arrested-in-anambra.html

Nigerian police

Their is nothing well with this country, same people under the oppressive regime will cheer when protestors are gunned down, this is what they were protesting!

The way Igbo youths end up missing in Anambra is quite alarming... several allegations of extra-judicial killings in Anambra yet the bastards that convened and took part in LekkiLies remain silent. Walai all of una no fit prosper, na fact.

This is how they will all turn blind eye to killings in Anambra but will be calling for arrest of MC Oluomo that has never governed or held political office in their enclave. No wahala na, we are recording it.

flokii:
The way Igbo youths end up missing in Anambra is quite alarming... several allegations of extra-judicial killings in Anambra yet the bastards that convened and took part in LekkiLies remain silent. Walai all of una no fit prosper, na fact.

This is how they will all turn blind eye to killings in Anambra but will be calling for arrest of MC Oluomo that has never governed or held political office in their enclave. No wahala na, we are recording it.

Ekweremadu's daughter needs a spare kidney. Mr Amadu might just have been the available mule

See why you people are devious?

You first started with statements that showed empathy and ended it with foolish reasoning.

The issue is that the Police is culpable...but when the Youths take revenge, it's same you again, that will be on this platform writing rubbish and exposing your generational stupidity.

IGBOs don't even expend the amount of time you SW guys expend on IGBO threads. Anyway, that action, shows respect and admiration for them.

Face your SW zone..and I trust people will handle the matter amicably.

As for MC Oluomo...did any IGBO person threaten any Yoruba not to vote in Anambra? I assure you of the fact that, whatever you guys plan will backfire badly. When that time comes, if you see IGBO man you will fear GOD.

flokii:
The way Igbo youths end up missing in Anambra is quite alarming... several allegations of extra-judicial killings in Anambra yet the bastards that convened and took part in LekkiLies remain silent. Walai all of una no fit prosper, na fact.

This is how they will all turn blind eye to killings in Anambra but will be calling for arrest of MC Oluomo that has never governed or held political office in their enclave. No wahala na, we are recording it.

Yaribanzaonic:
See why you people are devious?

You first started with statements that showed empathy and ended it with foolish reasoning.

The issue is that the Police is culpable...but when the Youths take revenge, it's same you again, that will be on this platform writing rubbish and exposing your generational stupidity.

IGBOs don't even expend the amount of time you SW guys expend on IGBO threads. Anyway, that action, shows respect and admiration for them.

Face your SW zone..and I trust people will handle the matter amicably.

As for MC Oluomo...did any IGBO person threaten any Yoruba not to vote in Anambra? I assure you of the fact that, whatever you guys plan will backfire badly. When that time comes, if you see IGBO man you will fear GOD.

Ignore that thing! It’s lost on him that all this is happening under the presidency of his useless APC gov’t that him and his god Tinubu selfishly helped rig into office….TWICE! In a unitary system of gov’t such as what’s operated in ‘one Nigeria’, ultimate responsibility for the protection of lives and property rest squarely with his Buhari/APC gov’t! Let him chew on that!

flokii:
The way Igbo youths end up missing in Anambra is quite alarming... several allegations of extra-judicial killings in Anambra yet the bastards that convened and took part in LekkiLies remain silent. Walai all of una no fit prosper, na fact.

This is how they will all turn blind eye to killings in Anambra but will be calling for arrest of MC Oluomo that has never governed or held political office in their enclave. No wahala na, we are recording it.

Read what you wrote again, Police kills in Anambra, MC Oluomo kills in Lagos, what is the difference? So people should no demand for justice because of where they come from?

The reason why you are reading this news is because some people are demanding for justice, I'm even wondering the point you are trying to make here dragging tribalism into justification for injustice.

That same policeman that has killed in Anambra might be transferred to Lagos one day and might kill your tribes man or your relative, when he killed in Anambra you did not condemn it because the victim is Igbo....

This is part of the reason why the country is where it is today....

The Atrocities in Awkuzu S.a.r.z......










#MySignature
#Mybusiness

All ipob terrorists deserve to be killed

Peacemaker5129:
All ipob terrorists deserve to be killed

It is an indication of how terrible Nigeria has become that punitive deterrent is not quickly served on offenders these day. It was the USA that had to arrest and jail Hushpuppi, Woodberry etal while we worship them as icons and untouchable superstars in Nigeria.

No supporter of IPOB but extrajudicial killing of anyone to then harvest their organs, especially when the perpetrators are men of the Nigerian police force, should worry sensible Nigerians.

You think it is only IPOB these vile and desperate killers take out? Who cannot fall victim to these people if in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Even for the sake of preserving law and order, the complaints of the parents of the young victim should be looked into and pursued exhaustively to it concluding end.

This is what Soludo, Obi, Ngige and co should be using their personal and official influence to tackle.

Peacemaker5129:
All ipob terrorists deserve to be killed

Thats the story of Nigeria, killing, killing, killing

Never peace, peace, peace

Whats the point of Nigeria then?

flokii:


This is how they will all turn blind eye to killings in Anambra but will be calling for arrest of MC Oluomo that has never governed or held political office in their enclave. No wahala na, we are recording it.

The same way you people turn a blind eye to Boko haram slaughtering people in the North East? ISWAP slaughtering people in the North West? Killer herdsmen murdering people in the North central?

But only remember there is killing in Nigeria if it happens in the South East?

Jokers everywhere

Peter Obi and his ritualist people have mined the guy's skull.
A terrorist deserves no pity tho.
Osu are born criminals of international dimension.
See the way Ekweremadu took organ mining international.

The effeminate drug baron called Peter Obi is fully aware of these crimes against humanity. The authorities should search his house in Agulu, I'm sure his skull is somewhere there .
I hope Pandora's wife hasn't cooked the ipob terrorist tho. I don't trust those cannibals