Woman, 70, bloodied as police, family bicker

When Pa Nweke Nnamani Nwatus was alive, he married four wives. He died intestate in 2003. He left behind three wives following the death of one of his wives.

The Nwatus are from Akpugo in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Since the death of Nnamani, peace has disappeared from his home, with his children always squabbling. The quarrel is between the children of the first wife, Ma Grace and those of the second wife, identified as Ma Victoria.

The wrangling among the children has now led to them dragging themselves to different police stations. Caught in the middle of these quarrels are members of the Nigeria Police Force.

For some unknown reasons, personnel of the Nigeria Police, rather than investigate the root of the problems among the siblings, are alleged to be twisting the case, taking sides and laughing to their banks. The family matter has gone to Agbani Police Station, Enugu, then to State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Enugu, and moved to Enugu State Police Command, D7, from there to Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos. Again, before Alagbon could commence investigation, the Deputy-Inspector-General of Police (DIG), Mike Ogbizi, of the Force CID, Force Headquarters, Abuja, ordered that the suspects be allowed to go and the matter moved to his domain.

Series of cases have caused the siblings to go to the police. One was threat to life, another was causing bodily harm and the latest was the alleged ruthless beating of Victoria, who is said to be in her 70s.

Victoria was beaten by her step-son identified as Afam. In the course of the beating, she was alleged to have become bloodied and rushed to hospital.

Grace has two males and two females. Her first son is Emeka Nwatu, a politician and currently, Chairman of the Local Government Commission in Enugu State.

Victoria has four boys and two girls. The first son is a pastor, while the second son is Mr Ekene Nwatu, a Lagos based businessman. The third wife, who is presently sickly, has two children. The fourth wife is late, but left two children behind. One of her children is Afam, alleged to have a penchant for tormenting and beating Victoria.

Ekene and his step-brother, Emeka are those presently in the centre of the ring, representing each sides of their family.

According to Ekene, the present quarrel in the family was because Emeka allegedly made Afam to beat Victoria. He further alleged that Emeka wanted to appropriate their father’s property and then eject Victoria from her matrimonial home. Emeka, however, insisted that he had no intention of ejecting Victoria and her children out of the family’s compound. He said that the protracted problem in the family was between Victoria and Afam.

His words: “Emeka is trying to run us out of our family house just because our father is dead. Emeka hired thugs, who had been abusing and oppressing our aged mother. We are based in Lagos and Emeka uses that fact to use his thugs to attack our mother. Those that beat our mother were arrested following my mother’s complainant at Agbani Police Station. But one Inspector Rita, who was the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), compromised the case.”

Ekene alleged that Emeka had repeatedly used Rita to detain and harass his siblings. He explained that after his mother lodged the complaint, Rita convinced her to withdraw the case.

Ekene said: “My mother, being uneducated was tricked into endorsing the withdrawal of her complaint and release of those who beat her. The truth is that my mother never gave her consent for the case to be withdrawn.”

He added: “This is a very big problem concerning me and Emeka. Emeka has been oppressing my mother to the extent he sent Afam, our step brother to beat her. It is because he’s Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, that he is using the opportunity to oppress us. In 2016, he claimed that my brothers threatened him; he got them arrested and detained for over a week. The police told him to bring evidence. He said he received a text message. The police asked him to provide same, but he couldn’t. He doesn’t allow any of my siblings or I to enter the compound, to the extent that he stationed police check point in my father’s compound. If you’re a child of my mother, the police wouldn’t allow you to enter the compound. The Police will stop you and then put a phone call across to him. This problem has been going on for a long time; nobody has money to challenge him. I called him sometimes ago; I told him that if my mother dies, it will be on him. He wants to chase my mother away from the family house; my father built 10-room apartments. Anytime I visit the village, I lodge at hotels.”

Ekene recalled that two of his siblings were picked on December 31 by policemen on the instruction of Emeka and spent a week in police detention without food and water.

Ekene said that the wives and siblings used to live in peace while their father was alive. But the peace shattered after his death, with Emeka allegedly claiming that nobody supported him with the medical bills when their father was sick. Ekene said that the tensed situation took a nasty turn after Emeka, without informing other siblings, renovated the family house and moved Grace and Victoria to the family’s kitchen.

Ekene said: “He didn’t tell any of us about the renovation. I heard about it and called him. I offered to support the renovation with 100 bags of cement, he refused. After renovation, he moved his mom into the building and left my mom in the kitchen. It was when people started making noise, that he reluctantly moved my mother back into the main building. That was almost three months after the renovation. He told my mom that she should tell her children to build a house for her. Our family house has five rooms downstairs with sitting room; while downstairs has four rooms with a big sitting room. He took over all the rooms and gave my mom and siblings two rooms.”

Ekene, who said he was sick and tired of the quarrels, added that all he wanted was for Emeka and Afam to let Victoria to be in peace.

He said: “My mom is living in fear. She’s too old for these drama. I want Emeka and his thugs to stop disturbing her. She’s in her husband’s house. She’s not going anywhere. My father married her according to our customs and traditions. Another thing I want is justice for my mom. She was attacked and bloodied by Afam, Police should do the right thing by charging the matter to court. Afam also attacked my two brothers with knife, the matter should also be charged to court. Moreover, I strongly feel that peace will reign if Emeka respects his younger siblings by carrying us along in his plans towards our father’s property. Before our Igwe died, he tried to intervene in the matter, but his efforts failed because Emeka refused to listen to anyone.”

Recalling the day Victoria was beaten, Ekene said: “Afam came with some thugs, whom Emeka used to pay N5000 every week. They met my mother drinking tea with bread, it confronted my mom, telling her to go and tell her children to build her own house for her. He collected her tea and drank it. He and his friends then snatched her pot of rice and ate it. She started screaming. It was at that point that Afam hit her three times across the face. She fell down. He injured her mouth; there was blood everywhere. People came to rescue her. She narrated what happened to our Igwe; the Igwe instructed people to take her to hospital.”

He explained that when he heard about the beating of his mother, he called the police to arrest Afam, but at the station, Emeka called the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the station and allegedly truncated justice. When two of Victoria’s children came to the village in December, they confronted Afam for beating their aged mother.

Ekene said: “While my two brothers asked Afam why he beat up our mother, warning him not to try it again, Emeka was upstairs, watching the scenario and laughing. As my brothers turned to walk away, Afam ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. He tried to attack my brothers. They wrested it from him. In the process, Afam and one of my brother’s sustained injuries. Emeka called police to detain my two brothers. Inspector Rita, who is working for Emeka refused to allow anyone to give food for them. They were detained for week.”

He further noted: “It was when people started speaking against their continual detention that Rita quickly charged them for attempted murder. The police plan was to make sure they were remanded in prison custody. It was Rita that prepared the charge, but I have served them fundamental human right suit. I’m appealing to the Enugu State Governor to come to our aid. My elder brother, who is a pastor, went to him, extending an olive branch, but Emeka walked him out of his office.”

Emeka, however, denied the allegations leveled against him by Ekene. According to him, Ekene was being economical with the truth. The aim, he said, was to divert attention from the real bone of contention.

He explained that the real crux of the matter was that two of Ekene’s siblings, Chikezie and Chijioke, attacked Afam with a knife and disappeared. He alleged that Ekene and his siblings wanted to drag his name into the issue in order to tarnish his image.

Emeka confirmed that Ekene and his brothers were his siblings and that he contributed in good measure in their education. He explained that their father died 10 years ago, but before he died, he gave a directive on how the family land should be shared among the four wives.

Emeka said: “The real problem is that Ekene’s mom had issue with Afam. This happened around November 2019. I was in Abuja on official assignment when the quarrel took place. I was told that Afam hit Ekene’s mom on her mouth, causing her lip to bleed. I was told that Ekene’s mom was in the habit of verbally abusing Afam, including telling him that his mother died of HIV/AIDS, that he would die in the same manner. On that fateful day, Ekene’s mother spat on Afam’s face; he blocked her way along the passage of the family building. So, in a bid to free himself, his hand hit the woman on her mouth, she started bleeding.”

He said that Victoria went to lodge a complaint with the Police and Afam was arrested and detained for nearly one week, until kindred members intervened. He said that Afam knelt down at the police station and begged Victoria for forgiveness.

“She forgave him, saying that he was also her son. It was at that point that Ekene’s mother asked the Police at Agbani Police Station to allow Afam to go. When they returned to the compound, Afam again knelt down and apologised,” said Emeka.

He said that when he heard about the incident, he was angry with Afam and then made some calls, directing the vigilante group in the community to seize his motorcycle as punishment. He said that the villagers intervened, telling him that Afam had already apologized to Victoria. He said that the matter had been forgotten until December when Victoria’s children came for Christmas vacation.

Emeka recalled: “On December 31st, two of Ekene’s siblings, Chikezie and Chijioke, attacked Afam with a knife in retaliation for hitting their mum. They inflicted cuts on his wrist and other parts of his body. Afam went to Agbani Police Station to report the attack. The Police arrested Ekene’s brothers and detained them for some days before charging them to court. Before they attacked Afam, they didn’t come to me or other elders of the family to complain. I was later told that based on a petition to Enugu State Commissioner of Police by Ekene on the matter, the matter was transferred to the State Criminal Intelligence Department (SCID) on the order of the CP. Ekene brothers abandoned the case at the SCID. The next thing was that they were writing petitions against me, going to media and human rights groups. If they had respected me, I would have stepped into the matter as an eldest brother. This matter would not have escalated. I’m still ready to step into the matter in order to settle the matter out of court and Police. My siblings need to make a retreat and come to the family for dialogue.”

Reacting to allegations that he wanted to send Victoria out of the family house, and that he stationed policemen at the front of the compound, Emeka replied: “I have no business with Police, ‘Stop and Search’ team, which operates their normal motorized patrol along the road that passed in front of our compound.”

He further explained: “My father had an old house in the compound and I built more than eight-room boys’ quarters behind the old building. I relocated everybody, including Ekene’s mother and siblings. I later sought permission from other family members to pull down the old building built by our father. I built a modern duplex with multiple rooms. I still allocated two rooms to Ekene and his mother in the new building just as they were occupying in the old building. As the first son, tradition demands that I inherit my father’s homestead, but I’m not chasing anybody away. The house I built, even the boys’ quarters are large enough to accommodate everybody, pending when they want to build their own houses in the land allocated to them by our late father before he died. Also, as the first son, I realise the huge responsibility on my shoulder, to bring everybody together, despite the quarrelsome attitude of Ekene, his brothers and mother. I have been shouldering the responsibilities without a complaint. There are many things I wouldn’t like to say because Ekene and his siblings are still my brothers.”

Our correspondent traveled to Akpugo, where he met with Victoria and other people. She repeated the same narrative given by Ekene, accusing Emeka of intimidating her and her children and trying to run them out of their family home. She said that Afam beat her up and that she reported the matter to the police.

She said: “I thumb printed a paper given to me by the Police at Agbani but I didn’t know what was written on it. I never gave my consent for the matter to be withdrawn. I didn’t accept the pleas of Afam when he begged me. I acknowledged that I reported the incident to my children when they returned in December and they fought with Afam. My children had a knife, so also did Afam. Afam is an Indian hemp smoker and is in the habit of disturbing my peace, including stealing my food even when the pot is still on the fire.”

Speaking on the beating of Victoria, the Igwe’s wife, Lolo Oruruo, said: “My husband is late now. On that day that Victoria ran to the palace, she was covered in blood. She came to the palace to report to my husband that Afam had beaten her, but my husband was laid down. My husband asked her to go and report the matter to the Peace Resolution Community. Afam used to beat and torment that woman every day. I’m shocked that the matter is still on. Afam is stubborn and anyone supporting him will receive repercussion from God, if not from a human being.”

On the day our correspondent visited Akpugo, Afam, the man at the center of the squabble, was not around. Every effort made to get him proved abortive as family members said he had lost his phone and couldn’t be reached.

Our correspondent visited Ignatius Enyi, but he declined to comment. He referred the correspondent to the Enugu State Commissioner of Police and the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Daniel Ndukwe.

Ndukwe took our correspondent to Section D7 to meet Enyi. Enyi, however, said that he had preferred they all go to an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), who then directed them to a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP). It was before the DCP, that Enyi narrated what transpired in the case.

Enyi said: “When the case was referred to me, I invited the parties involved. I asked all the parties to provide a surety to guarantee that they report each time they were needed at the command as the matter was being investigated. Chikezie and Chijioke provided Emeka Agbo as surety, while Afam, who could not come on that first day as he was still in the hospital recovering from the knife attack, came later to make his statement and also provided a surety. On the next appointment, Afam reported, but Chikezie and Chijioke didn’t. On three subsequent reschedules, Afam reported, but Chikezie and Chijioke, the petitioners, didn’t.”

Enyi mentioned that Police through a text message invited the person that took them on surety, Emeka Agbo, to report at the command, but he allegedly didn’t respond. The Police wrote officially to his office, requesting that he reports to the police and produce Chikezie and Chijioke, but he also didn’t respond. Days later, the IPO called him on phone, inviting him once again, but still Agbo didn’t report to the command. It was at this point that the Police went and arrested him. He was subsequently charged to court to show cause and produce Chikezie and Chijioke who he took on bail. Agbo was granted bail by the court and the matter adjourned to March 26, 2020.

Agbo, who confirmed the police narrative, said he didn’t actually know Chikezie and Chijioke before he took them on bail. He claimed to have been tricked because he was told that the people he was going to take on bail were the children of a woman, who sells food in front of his office. He said that it was when he got there, that he discovered it was not true. But the people that invited him, begged him, to sign as surety.

Agbo said that the two brothers promised they would keep their appointment with the police, and he eventually signed for them.

He said that when police started inviting him, he called Chikezie and Chijioke on phone; they told him they were in Lagos. He pleaded with them to report to the police station, but they kept tossing him up and down.

He stated that he was rough-handled by the police when they initially thought he was colluding with the absconded suspects. But that eventually, they believed him.

The Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (Rulaac), Mr Okechukwu Nwanguma, who has stepped into the matter, demanding justice for Victoria, urged the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Musiliu Smith, to investigate the allegations of bias and unprofessional and oppressive conduct by the officers at Agbani Police Division and at the Enugu State Police Headquarters.

He said: “We call on the PSC to investigate the activities of the DPO Agbani and Inspector Rita Thomas of Agbani Police Station for bias and unprofessional conducts and the O/C D7, SCID, Enugu for torture.”

He explained that Alagbon was able to arrest Afam and another suspect for beating Victoria, but the DIG, with a phone call from Abuja ordered for their release.

Nwanguma said that the DIG, ordering the release of the suspects who beat up Victoria without first having proper information concerning the case, would jeopardize the chances of achieving justice in