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The police in Imo State have a puzzle to unravel over the death of a native of Umudire in Umunakanu Owerre Autonomous Community, Ehime Mbano Local Government Area, Imo State, allegedly shot dead by the Anti-kidnapping Unit of state’s police command.
Chigozie Nwaiwu, a graduate of Abia State Polytechnic, was allegedly shot dead by the police from the back of his head in public glare near his home penultimate Friday. Chigozie was said to have stopped at the workshop of his friend, Christian Uchenna Chukwu, in Umuezeala Ehime, Mbano Local Government Area, to ask why Uchenna was arrested by the police. Unfortunately, he (Chigozie) did not live to tell the story.
In a petition titled “Murder of Mr. Nwaiwu Chigozie and Continuous Illegal Detention of Chukwu Christian Uchenna by Anti-kidnapping Unit, Imo State Police Command”, addressed to the Assistant Inspector General of Police(AIG) Zone 9 Umuahia, Abia State by the solicitors to Nze Eugene Chukwu and Mr. Ifeanyi Nwaiwu, parents of the late Chigozie and detained Uchenna, and signed by the principal partner to the firm, Sir Ebuka Igwe, the solicitors gave an account of how Uchenna was arrested and how Chigozie was killed.
According to the petition, on October 6, 2021, three detectives from Anti-kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command, driving a red Venza (Toyota) visited the shop of one Christian Uchenna Chukwu in search of one Mr. Chidera who shares the same shop. But the detectives only met Chidera’s wife and dropped their contact details with her, telling her to inform the husband to reach out to them.
On their way out, according to the petition, the detectives saw Uchenna, who lives in the same premises where Chidera’s shop was located, and arrested him. The late Chigozie, who saw what had happened, approached the policemen to ask why his brother was arrested, but one of the policemen got angry and pulled the trigger, killing him instantly.
Some residents of the area, who spoke with our correspondent, corroborated the foregoing account. A community leader and Chairman of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Imo State, Comrade Ebem Njoku, said the detectives were about to drive off when Chigozie asked them why they were taking Uchenna away.
Njoku said: “The three occupants of the car, who wore plain clothes, shot Chigozie dead. The car zoomed off and people gathered to see what had happened. Then suddenly, the same car came back and the onlookers ran helter-skelter.
” The car’s occupants then picked up Chigozie’s lifeless body, put it in the car and zoomed off.” He said the deceased Chigozie was Uchenna’s closest. He said that when he approached the operatives, one of them was probably overtaken by an evil spirit. Hence he shot and killed Chigozie.
“Only one bullet was fired. There was no exchange of gunshots as claimed by the police,” he said.
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According to Njoku, the families of Chigozie and Uchenna were still brooding over what had happened when on October 8 when the Imo State Police Command issued a statement, claiming that the deceased Chigozie was a member of the outlawed secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
However, the spokesman of the Imo State Police Command, Michael Abattam, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), insisted that Chigozie was an IPOB member, but he was not the one the police set out to arrest.
He said: “The police came to arrest Uchenna, who is still in our custody, and not Chigozie Nwaiwu who came with other members of the group to rescue him. They engaged the police in a shootout, but in the process, Chigozie was brought down.”
Abattam said when the police brought down the deceased, “we ran a check on his profile and discovered in one of his Facebook pages details his membership of IPOB,” he told our correspondent who visited him in his office at the command’s headquarters in Owerri.
He had earlier alleged that Uchenna played a major role in the killing of police officers and burning of police stations in Imo State and had long been declared wanted by the police. He said he (Uchenna) was arrested following credible information that made the police to storm his shop at Ehime Mbano area to arrest him.
“While this was on, the already alerted members who came in their numbers to rescue him engaged the police in a gun duel, and in the process, one of them was neutralised while others escaped with bullet wounds,” he stated.
He added that one locally-made double barrel pistol with two expended catridges, two live cartridges and charms were recovered at the scene. Abattam also said the suspect was undergoing interrogation and had made useful statement to the police.
