The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of the 13th Zonal Command of the Nigeria Police Force, Ukpo-Dunukofia, AIG Godwin Aghaulor, has ordered investigations into an allegation that one Mrs Mmesoma Odili of Umuosiegbo village in Umunya, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra state has lost her three-month-old pregnancy while in detention at the Zone 13 Headquarters, Ukpo.
The Command’s Zonal Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Ihunwo disclosed this in a chat with our correspondent in Ukpo, the headquarters of the command.
Recall that the police had to arrest Mmesoma when they could not lay hands on her husband over a land dispute in the area.
An indigene of the community, Mr. Jude Ikeanyionwu, who said the dispute has torn the area apart, called on the state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, and other stakeholders in the state, to intervene in the worrisome situation before it leads to the loss of more lives.
Ikeanyionwu noted that Mmesoma’s husband is a member of the community’s vigilante group and one of those opposed to the illegal attempt to sell their communal land by some of their elders.
“When the men of Zone 13 Police came to arrest those who do not want our land to be sold since we had shared it among the various families and they could not find Mmesoma’s husband, they arrested his pregnant wife.
“For eight days she was in detention and it was during this period that she had a miscarriage and lost her three months pregnancy. The police had to let her go when she was almost dying in detention.
“The situation in our kindred now is that those who want to sell our land by force have been harassing us with police from Abuja, such that all the men in the village no longer sleep in their houses for fear of arrest.”
But Ihunwo had in the chat, revealed that the AIG has also ordered that the allegation that Mmesoma was arrested when the Police could not lay their hands on her husband following a land dispute in the area and a complaint of him being in possession of arms unlawfully, should also be investigated.
“The allegations were made by one Mr Jude Ikeanyionwu an indigene of the community who alleged that Mmesoma’s husband, who is a member of the vigilante group in the area, was against the illegal act of selling the communal land by some elders of the community.
“Furthermore, according to Mr Jude, when the members of the Zone 13 command came to arrest Mmesoma’s husband and he was not around, they arrested her in lieu and detained her beyond the legally permitted duration in the course of which her three months pregnancy was lost.
“However, the AIG of Zone 13 has ordered an immediate investigation into these allegations to ascertain the veracity of the claims, determine the culpability or otherwise of the concerned officers, and take further necessary action.
“Further development will be communicated in due course,” Ihunwo revealed.
