I Was Beaten, Threatened With Death, Onitsha Based Female Lawyer Narrates Ordeal In Hands Of Police

An Ontisha-based female lawyer, Chiamaka Nwangwu, has narrated how she was eaten and thrown into the cell by Jane Mbanefo, Divisional Police Officer of 3-3 Police Division, Nkwelle Ezunaka, and her men.

Nwangwu said she had responded to a distress call from her colleague in Abuja to go to the police station over the detention of her younger brother who was dragged there by his landlord.

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Going to the police station was the beginning of her nightmare and how distraught she is about the behavior of the NBA chairman, Onitsha Bar.

Read Chiamaka’s Nwangwu’s account of her ordeal:

How I Was Tortured, Detained By A Dpo, Policemen In Anambra For Seeking The Bail Of My Client

My Colleague in Abuja called me and pleaded with me to go to 3-3, Police Station Division, Nkwelle Ezunaka, Anambra State, on the 23rd January, 2018, to help his younger brother who was about making a statement there; according to my colleague, his younger brother was beaten up by his landlord and his boys.

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When I got to there around 10am, I met the young man making a statement at the IPO’s office, I approached him and asked him what exactly happened and he narrated everything that transpired to me. He told me that his landlord had made a statement against him on the 21st night. I was also informed by his parents that the said landlord has been with the DCO1, since 6am on that fateful January 23. I went to the office of the DCO1 and saw a man wearing a brown native cloth, without even knowing that he is the landlord, I politely briefed the DCO1 and he told me that they are investigating the matter and we got talking from there. He also told me that if I am not satisfied with their investigations, I could transfer the matter to State CID or Area Command.

I also called the DCO2, met him outside and asked him if the DPO came to work that day, he told me that the DPO was not around that morning but may come to work later. I called my mom on the phone and told her about the matter I came for, as soon as we finished speaking on the phone, I came in and saw the young man I came for, behind the counter and I signaled to him, he told me that the IPO and DCO1 asked him to stay there. I went out again to make some calls, came in again to meet the young man complaining that most parts of his body where he was beaten by his landlord were seriously bringing out pus and disturbing him. I sympathized with him and told him he should have sought for medical treatment immediately after the vicious beating, that it was very risky leaving it till the next day.

Unaware all this while I was talking to my client by now, a huge woman on native clothes, who I later learned is Jane Mbanefo, the DPO, was watching me and became very aggressive and ordered me to leave the admin office. (NOTE: I didn’t know the DPO and have never seen her before, it was my first time of coming to that Police station. She started shouting at me, asking me what is my interest in the matter and who I was to tell the boy that I came for on the kind of treatment he should get?)

To say the least, I was not only shocked and embarrassed but equally angry at how the DPO, Jane Mbanefo, was screaming and throwing tantrums at me. I made to leave the admin office, as she continued yelling, and insulting lawyers, generally, telling me that she is equally a lawyer of 20yrs Post-call.

Before I knew what was happening as I was walking out, Jane Mbanefo, the DPO of 3-3 Police Division, slapped me and in the process one of the handle of my recommended glasses disfigured and fell off. Taking a cue from what their DPO was doing battering me, other junior police officers joined hands and beat me up mercilessly. My black gown was torn, I was stripped naked. What was uppermost in my mind then was to get their assault of me recorded. I managed to get my phone out of my handbag to record and video the scene, but one of the policewomen, took my Gionee A1 Phone, smashed it and proceeded to seize the damaged phone. In the course of their brutalization, my middle finger was broken and I sustained internal injuries. People were watching outside including the young boy I came for as well as his mom and dad.

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I was detained at the police station and was asked to write a statement. In the course of this, another policeman slapped me and threatened that he would send his juniors to beat me up, before pushing me into the cell, while another policewoman, who had just come in, slapped me and pushed me from the counter. She said she would have done worse if she were the other policewomen that beat me up.

I was asked to write a statement, when my client’s dad brought my bag from the scene where the incident took place, I discovered that N5,000 was missing from my handbag. They also threatened to shoot me or poison me if I sleep in the cell till the next day. I made a statement and was thrown into the cell for about 6hrs before my parents were contacted, with the Onitsha NBA Chairman as well as my Principal. I later learned that the DPO fabricated stories against me saying that I slapped her and took their walkie-talkie away.

When I was in the cell, some police officers attempted to force my client to write implicating statements about me, but the young boy resisted and I could hear him saying he would rather be shot dead than make any such statement, screaming that they beat up and stripped his lawyer naked for nothing.

After the 6 hours and having had extensive meeting with the Onitsha NBA chairman, the Bar I belong to, I was brought from the cell to the DPO’s office and my NBA Chairman turned to me and said that he has heard a nasty report about me, which I denied in its entirety as they were all lies. All this in the presence of my father, mother, my Principal and another senior lawyer. I narrated everything that happened in front of them but my NBA Chairman didn’t even allow me to finish because he turned to me and said, “If I were you, I should not be talking.”

Chiamaka-Nwangwu
Chiamaka Nwangwu

My mother, who was in poor health, pleaded that I keep calm and I did. He did not even bother to check my smashed phone which was before him.

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My NBA Chairman asked me to go out of the office, and the IPO took me back to behind the counter. After my NBA Chairman finished discussing with the DPO, he asked her what could be done for peace to reign and the DPO insisted I must write an apology letter of which the NBA Chairman agreed and made his final decision. I was forced to write an apology letter afterwards before I could leave the cell of which I did after much pressure from my mother fearing for the life of her only daughter sleeping over in the cell, especially after I was threatened by the DPO and her juniors.

I was released after I wrote the apology letter thrice which the DCO dictated to me. The DCO2 was the person that dictated all the contents in the letter with the help of the female IPO in charge. (NOTE: I heard when my NBA Chairman told the DPO that I am the 5th legal practitioner that had reported to the NBA that I was beaten up in their police station.)

I have never experienced this type of thing as a legal practitioner and if something is not done, this impunity will continue. Police are meant to protect the citizens and not to turn them into punch bags. (NOTE: I told the DPO and other officers involved that I MUST report this matter to the appropriate authority.)

Up till now, I am still unable to understand why NBA Chairman conceded to my writing an apology letter? Why did he not inspect my phone which was smashed, that was placed on the DPO’s table, right before his eyes?

Attached are some photographic evidence and a medical report of my ordeal.

I demand justice!

By Chiamaka Nwangwu Esq.

[email protected]

08061335781

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