A witness has told the Judicial Commission of Inquiry his cousin’s whereabouts are unknown since he left home on March 7, 2019 to see his younger sister who had delivered.
Speaking with newsmen after appearing before the Commission, Mr Eneonu Chamberlain, said that they came to the commission over his cousin’s whereabouts to seek justice.
He said they had discovered his cousin was arrested by the police.
Mr. Chamberlain who appeared as witness before the panel said: “We came here in respect to the whereabout(s) of my cousin brother, Uchechukwu Lucky Wobodo. He left home on the 7th of March, 2019 to visit his younger sister who had just delivered a newborn baby. Since then till now we’ve not set our eyes on him. Within that particular day he left we called his line (and) the phone rang and rang and rang until it stopped ringing.
“We’ve made every frantic effort to see if we can see him. We’ve gone through several police stations up to police headquarter(s) and they said they didn’t have somebody like that. Now after three months, my younger brother got a call from an unnamed police officer (who) gave the young man phone – my cousin that we are looking for – to talk with my younger brother. So they spoke and that was when we got to know that he’s alive and under custody”.
He said the police officer who had called extorted money from the wife of his cousin saying he called on several occasions to demand money, adding that they expended a lot of money in the process.
Mr Chamberlain said they had later got to know about him being paraded as a kidnapper when he saw him on a Daily Sun newspaper on September 21, 2019.
He said the report mentioned the Inspector-General of Police Response Team as being responsible for his arrest.
The witness also said they went to court to enforce his fundamental rights and the court gave order that he be released unconditionally.
He however said the police who never turned up for the case had refused to carry out the court’s order.
The witness said they came to the commission to see if they could get justice adding that his cousin’s wife and five children were suffering.
Chamberlain said after they saw the publication they went severally to Inspector-General of Police Response Team and they said his cousin was not with them.
The Commission of Inquiry earlier struck out the case when it was discovered the matter was in court.
The commission said it had no authority to order the enforcement of court order.
The Rivers State government mandates the Judicial Commission of Inquiry to look into alleged acts of violence and torture and brutality and murder and violation of fundamental rights of citizens committed by officers and men and operatives of Nigerian Police Force in the state and make recommendations.
