An Enugu State High Court presided over by Justice C.O. Ajah has ordered the state’s Commissioner of Police (CP) and a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Chidobe Ekeleme, to pay the sum of N20 million for violating the right to life of the late Chika Chukwu Onwe.
The judge stated that the fine was a result of the murder of Onwe in their custody without trial and in a manner devoid of due process.
Onwe was arrested in 2019, alongside Izuchukwu Ani, at Agbani community in Nkanu West Local Government Area (LGA) by the police, following a cult clash in the area on suspicion of being a member of a secret society in the state.
They were taken to the Anti-Cult Police Post, where they were detained and refused bail. It was further said that from the day of their arrest, they were neither brought to court to face trial for their crime nor allowed access to members of their family.
Counsel to Onwe, Mr. Chukwunonso Ogbe, told the court that all efforts by Onwe’s mother, Confidence Nkechi, and uncle, Anayo Ume, to get information on his whereabouts proved abortive.
“They were continually rebuffed by the police,” he stated.
He added that as a way to get justice for the young man, the distraught mother and uncle took the matter to the state’s Police Brutality and Extra-Judicial Killing Unit. However, he noted that the report of the panel has remained a secret since then.
Ruling on the matter, Justice Ajah further held that the continued disappearance of Onwe after his arrest by the police amounts to a violation of the right to life as guaranteed by Section 33 (1) of the constitution. He directed the police to produce him, dead or alive, without further delay.
He also ordered the police to tender a written apology to Onwe’s mother, Nkechi, and publish the same in two national dailies for violating the right to life of the young man.