By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Saturday night November 28, 2020 was the last time neighbours saw Chukwuemeka Anichukwuegbo alive. His body was later found in an illegal private morgue with stitches on his chest.
He had disappeared from his home after just having a meal.
What happened to him? Was he murdered? Who did it, and why? His family has been seeking answers to these and other questions. But more than a month after the gruesome murder, the answers are still hanging in the air.
Chukwuemeka, 33, was a graduate of industrial physics from Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki and a manager with a chemical company, Diversey Nigeria Limited in Ijebu Ode, with its head office in Lagos.
He worked in Lagos for about six years before he was transferred to the ancient South West city in 2019.
He had lived in Ijebu Ode for about a year when his sister, Stella Anichukwu, got a call from his landlord that he had not seen him for 24 hours. About two weeks later, she got another call from the police requesting her to come and identify a corpse in a morgue.
It turned out to be Emeka – stone dead. Answers to enquiries are more confusing than helpful.
Beginning of the mystery
A Catholic priest, Reverend Father Hyacinth Ibeh, who took up the fatherly role for Emeka and his two siblings after they became orphans, told TheNiche what police investigation has so far unearthed and why justice for the deceased is a matter of urgency.
“I know Emeka is not coming back. But I want to stop these people from going on their killing spree so that they don’t kill more people. There are so many innocent people they are killing daily. I want them to be stopped,” he said.
“I want every person that is connected with this murder to be brought to book. That is precisely what I want, to save some innocent people. It seems to me that the killers are known as hired assassins and nothing is happening. And they are going on with business as usual.
“Emeka’s sister, Stella Onyebuchi Anichukwu, was the one that called to tell me that the landlord of Emeka called her on Sunday, November 29, 2020, to tell her that her brother had not been seen since Saturday, November 28, 2020. Apparently, it was that Saturday they saw him last.
“On Monday morning, Stella rushed down to Ijebu Ode. On getting there, they said that Emeka’s door was locked but the key was left on the window which naturally Emeka wouldn’t do. If he was going out, he would go with his key in his pocket.
“His wallet was in the bedroom, meaning that he really didn’t prepare to go out otherwise he would go out with his wallet.
“They looked into his wallet and his ATM cards and the money in his wallet were intact. But they saw that it appeared he cooked. And from all they could see, he had just finished eating. The plate which he used was on the table where he sat and ate. The rice he ate, you could see that it was on the stove where he took what he ate.
“From all they saw, the pot was still on the stove, and you could see where he took a scoop of what he ate. It didn’t seem he prepared to go out. Our inference is like they came to take him right there on the spot at gun point or they called him out. And we imagine that it must be a familiar person for him to go out.”
Questionable police investigation
Emeka’s phone became useful for the police in at least getting some suspects. The two suspects were in possession of Emeka’s phone and his corpse which they deposited in their illegal mortuary.
They also admitted to stitching his corpse on the left side of his chest.
“At a certain point, the police saw that somebody was using Emeka’s phone. The police called the number. It appeared the person sensed something and switched it off,” Ibeh narrated.
“So, the police now looked at the phone’s record and found somebody that he called so often. And they called that person, pretending to engage him in a job they wanted him to do. That person was picked.
“When they picked him up, they demanded to know about the other person that had Emeka’s phone. He now gave the police a different number which they used to get that person. They became two suspects.
“The police asked the other one how he got the phone. He said it was from Emeka’s corpse. They asked him how he got the corpse. He said it was the day that cult people were shooting and some people were shot, that Emeka was one of the persons that were shot.
“They asked him how the corpse got to his mortuary, he said it was the police that called them and asked them to pick up the corpse. They asked them, ‘do you know the police that called you;’ they said yes that they know.
“The one interviewing them was so surprised that the police would call them to pick up a corpse and would not take the body to a government mortuary!
“They asked them who authorised the embalmment. They didn’t have answers. They asked them about the stitches, they said they did it themselves. It was mind boggling.
“At the mortuary, Emeka was only in boxers. I was wondering whether he was not just in his boxers when they took him from his home. My suspicion was that he had just come back from work, removed his clothes, wearing only his boxers, cooked for himself and was eating when they came for him.
“That is what I am inclined to believe. But the two suspects said those were Emeka’s clothing, showing off some clothes. But the clothing, none of them could fit him. None of them was his size.
“Number two, they said he was shot. But the clothing didn’t have blood stains. Number three, if somebody is shot at a close range, the bullet can go from the front and come out at the back, but no exit at his back to confirm that a bullet pierced him.
“Finally, there was a third arrest that was made three days ago, a female. It was through phone tracking they got her because they said her call was the last Emeka received.
“She said she was a friend of Emeka. They asked her what she knew about what happened. She said that Emeka visited her and that she was escorting Emeka, and that right there, some men on okada stopped and shot him before her. That Emeka fell down and she ran for her dear life.
“We were wondering that she was escorting her friend and unknown people shot him and she ran for her dear life and left the friend, didn’t notify the police, did nothing until now that the phone records showed that she was the last person that called him.”
Curious attitude of Emeka’s landlord
Another shocker is Emeka’s landlord who was more concerned about other things than his dead tenant.
Ibeh said: “Just this morning (January 8), Onyebuchi was telling me that three days ago, Emeka’s landlord called her to say that Emeka’s rent expired in December, that she had only one week to come and collect the belongings of her brother.
“What kind of a human being would make that kind of statement? Is he hiding something? Otherwise how could his tenant be in the mortuary and there is a police case and you are giving one week ultimatum?
“This same landlord had told her that Emeka was the best tenant he ever had. Barely a month after his death he is giving ultimatum.”
Ibeh also expressed concern about the attitude of an assistant superintendent at the Igbeba police station in Ijebu Ode, where the case is being handled. The man told the family in a Yoruba adage that they should simply move on instead of pursuing a case that would not bring the dead back to life.
Ibeh said people like that in the police are the reasons why Nigeria is held down.
Emeka’s case was later transferred to the state CID in Abeokuta where the commissioner of police returned it to Igbeba police station in Ijebu Ode because they did a shoddy job – no autopsy report, no report from the so-called police that called the illegal mortuary attendants.
Now, what does Emeka’s family want? For justice to roll down like water.