The family of the Chief Protocol Officer of the Minister of State for Defence, Desmond Nunugwo, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of killing her husband and labeling him a criminal without proof.
Susanne, the widow of the deceased said her husband was pronounced dead barely 6 hours after he was taken into EFCC’s custody.
Speaking with The Punch Susanne said on the said day, she made several attempts to contact he r husband on phone but couldn’t because his phone was switched off, not knowing he was in EFCC’s custody in Wuse 2, Abuja.
Susanne said, “Around 3pm on June 9, my husband had gone to pick up our son from school and they both returned home. He later went out. Around 6pm, I called his line and it rang once. I tried his number several times later, but it was off.
“The next morning, I got apprehensive when he didn’t come home. However, around 3.48pm, someone called me with his phone and said my husband was in the EFCC’s custody and I should come to bail him.”
Susanne said she was contacted by the EFCC to come bail her husband when the Commission already knew he was dead.
She said on arrival at the commission, she was denied bail because she is a woman.
Shortly after leaving, the EFCC was alleged to have issued a press statement breaking the news of Desmond’s death.
She said, “The EFCC called me to their office to come and bail my husband while he was already at the mortuary.
“I later received a phone call from a former colleague of mine that he had read the news online that my husband was arrested for fraud and he had died.”
According to Susanne, her husband was arrested based on a petition written by one Uloma, his business associate.
Susanne said, “She (Uloma) told the EFCC that she met my husband on a flight in 2012 when he was on his way to the US where I went to give birth. She said my husband introduced her to a third party with whom she did a N91m transaction.”
She berated the EFCC for labeling her husband a fraudster even after causing his death, adding that the anti-graft agency must clear his name.
The nephew of the deceased accused, Amaechi Ihezie, accused the EFCC of being overzealous, questioning why the commission did not inform the Ministry of Defence of Desmond’s arrest or investigation even though he had been working at the ministry for over 10 years.
He said when he visited the EFCC, investigators told him that Desmond slumped and died.
“The EFCC told me that before he died, he wrote a statement of four pages. They gave him his phone to make calls for about two hours and then nobody came to bail him and so they said they transferred him to their head office and that a few hours later, he started to complain of discomfort and slumped. They said he was rushed to the hospital and confirmed dead,” he added.
The family lawyer, Paul Edeh, alleged a cover-up in the case.
In a petition addressed to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), Edeh said the EFCC refused that a post-mortem been done on the deceased.
The petition partly read, “The EFCC has blatantly refused that a post-mortem examination should be carried out on the body so as not to be indicted. This may have been the reason why more than two months after Desmond’s death, no move has been made to carry out an autopsy.
“After many visits by our clients to the EFCC and the police, both agencies have maintained that Desmond died a natural death. One, therefore, wonders how both the police and the EFCC could come up with such a common position in the absence of a medical examination to determine the cause of death.”
However, the EFCC had said in a statement by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, that the deceased allegedly fraudulently obtained N91m from an acquaintance after he tricked her into believing that he had high net worth business associates in Dubai, who were on the verge of buying NICON Insurance, and convinced her of their disposition to help her stockfish business.
Consequently, she allegedly wired N91m into an account, Mainage General Merchants, in Diamond Bank.
The EFCC added, “After the transfer of the funds, he became evasive forcing the complainant to report to the EFCC. Consequently, he was arrested in Utako, Abuja, at about 5.33pm on Thursday, June 9, 2016.
“He admitted to receiving the money from the complainant, with the additional information that he transferred N30m of the said money to Norway. But he could not explain the whereabouts of the balance of N61m.
“The suspect was detained at about 7.30pm, in the absence of anybody to take him on bail. Six hours later, he suddenly complained of discomfort and was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.”
Dolapo is a writer and journalist who works with YNaija. He has interests in Christianity, politics and sports.
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