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Yesterday, at the resumed hearing in the case, Commissioner of Police v.  Ephraim Emeka Ugwuonye, it became clear that the case would drag out. This is too typical of Nigerian criminal trials.  Once bail is not immediately granted,  the accused person is as good as having been convicted. This makes nonsense of the notion of presumption of innocence.  The accuser feels that his mission has been accomplished. As if to further shock everybody, the judge admitted that she had not read the proof of evidence in the case because it was voluminous. What actually made it voluminous was that the police attached volumes of repetitive DPA posts on its Facebook wall.  But the shock came from the fact that by admitting that she had not read the proof of evidence,  the judge admitted that she failed to do what she ought to gave done early in the case.  Emeka Ugwuonye's bail application called on the court to determine that nothing in the proof of evidence submitted to court linked Emeka Ugwuonye to the offences charged.  That required the court to immediately assess the proof of evidence.  But if court has not read the proof of evidence,  then, how could it have reached its decision on Ugwuonye's bail application judicially and judiciously? In yesterday's trial,  David Aiyedegbon's cross-examination was completed. It became a problem rescheduling the next hearing date,  as the police prosecutor insisted he would not be available on any of the days suggested in the next two weeks. With Easter close-by, it became harder to agree on a date in April. Emeka Ugwuonye and his lawyers will focus on securing his bail before the next date set for the continuation of trial. From every indication,  Ugwuonye and his lawyers are optimistic and upbeat about the outcome of the day's proceedings.

Today David Aiyedogbon is enjoying the leverage of impunity and abuse of power by the Nigerian Police Abuja command. No doubt, he is a happy man. He is not only enjoying the full backing of the Police but he is as well being shielded by the Police from investigation and possible prosecution. How long the leverage lasts is only known to the almighty God. But as for Emeka Ugwuonye Esquire,  he has played his part gallantly. Posterity will judge him kindly. One of the aims of the Nigerian Police in their vicious persecution, vendetta and calumny against Emeka Ugwuonye has been more on how to exonerate David Aiyedogbon than finding what happened to Charity Aiyedogbon( Cha-Cha.) Once David is shown to be free, then the case is closed. That is why Nigerians should appreciate Emeka Ugwuonye for his sacrifices to ensure that the case is still alive. We have seen from the lackluster attitude of the Nigerian Police Abuja command and the desperation of David Aiyedegbon to destroy all evidence pointing at him as having hands in the fate that  befall his late wife. David and Emeka has different objectives. While Emeka's objective is to find what happened to Cha-Cha, Davids objective is to exonerate himself from the fate that visited Cha-Cha. The truth will be revealed, despite how long it is delayed. Emeka and David's objectives appear to be right depending  on the perspective from where one views it but time shall tell.

Today David Aiyedogbon is enjoying the leverage of impunity and abuse of power by the Nigerian Police Abuja command. No doubt, he is a happy man. He is not only enjoying the full backing of the Police but he is as well being shielded by the Police from investigation and possible prosecution. How long the leverage lasts is only known to the almighty God. But as for Emeka Ugwuonye Esquire,  he has played his part gallantly. Posterity will judge him kindly. One of the aims of the Nigerian Police in their vicious persecution, vendetta and calumny against Emeka Ugwuonye has been more on how to exonerate David Aiyedogbon than finding what happened to Charity Aiyedogbon( Cha-Cha.) Once David is shown to be free, then the case is closed. That is why Nigerians should appreciate Emeka Ugwuonye for his sacrifices to ensure that the case is still alive. We have seen from the lackluster attitude of the Nigerian Police Abuja command and the desperation of David Aiyedegbon to destroy all evidence pointing at him as having hands in the fate that  befall his late wife. David and Emeka has different objectives. While Emeka's objective is to find what happened to Cha-Cha, Davids objective is to exonerate himself from the fate that visited Cha-Cha. The truth will be revealed, despite how long it is delayed. Emeka and David's objectives appear to be right depending  on the perspective from where one views it but time shall tell.

Today David Aiyedogbon is enjoying the leverage of impunity and abuse of power by the Nigerian Police Abuja command. No doubt, he is a happy man. He is not only enjoying the full backing of the Police but he is as well being shielded by the Police from investigation and possible prosecution. How long the leverage lasts is only known to the almighty God. But as for Emeka Ugwuonye Esquire,  he has played his part gallantly. Posterity will judge him kindly. One of the aims of the Nigerian Police in their vicious persecution, vendetta and calumny against Emeka Ugwuonye has been more on how to exonerate David Aiyedogbon than finding what happened to Charity Aiyedogbon( Cha-Cha.) Once David is shown to be free, then the case is closed. That is why Nigerians should appreciate Emeka Ugwuonye for his sacrifices to ensure that the case is still alive. We have seen from the lackluster attitude of the Nigerian Police Abuja command and the desperation of David Aiyedegbon to destroy all evidence pointing at him as having hands in the fate that  befall his late wife. David and Emeka has different objectives. While Emeka's objective is to find what happened to Cha-Cha, Davids objective is to exonerate himself from the fate that visited Cha-Cha. The truth will be revealed, despite how long it is delayed. Emeka and David's objectives appear to be right depending  on the perspective from where one views it but time shall tell.

    Since the making of this video, which was only an introduction, a number of changes have occurred as a result. First, all the detainees mentioned in the video have been either released or charged to court as we demanded. And none of them was killed extra-judicially by the police.   Secondly, the new Inspector General of  Police has abolished a number of police units responsible for the kind of abuses that thrived in abattoir. Also, the police force under the new Inspector General has issued apologies to victims of police abuse. These are marks of progress for which Due Process Advocate International Foundation (DPA) must take some of the credit.   However, more needs to be done to end police atrocities. Also, the new police leadership needs to act faster and to extend reforms to other areas of human rights abuses by the police. Even though,the founder of DPA was charged to court after the making of this video.   For the video, we are proud that we did not keep quiet in the face of gross human right violations by our policemen.  And, we intend to do more; as long as there is injustice in the land, we shall not relent. We shall fight on to protect the ordinary citizen from injustice. Welcome once again to the introduction to Abattoir:   Nigeria's Secret Prison. https://m.facebook.com/groups/133527986816712?view=permalink&id=1184318638404303

  For your information, Emeka Ugwuonye, the Founder of DPA, has no current access to telephone or computers. Therefore, you cannot reach him directly by Facebook or phone and he cannot reach you either. So, if you receive any message on Facebook appearing to come from him, please consider the following possibilities:   1. It is a fake account using his name and pictures, especially if the message is the first message on your chat log with him.   2. There is an urgent need and one of his trusted aides managing his Facebook account in his absence is trying yo follow up on your case or existing matter. You should have been aware that the DPA Founder has for more than 2 years now had people who assisted him in managing his Facebook account. He needed help to handle the thousands of messages and notifications he received every week. So, it should not be strange to you that you may receive a message from his account without him being aware of such message.   3. If you want to know exactly the person you are dealing with or chatting with, always feel free to ask for a video call or a voice call. If the person does not agree to either, then you should not trust the communication. But never panic or raise alarm. Allow 24 hours to resolve your doubt.   Having said this, there should be no concern about the strength and good health of DPA in the absence of the Founder. Our Admins are ready and willing to to take DPA to a level where the Founder will be proud off. As you know, our intervention activities are moving on normally. One of our staff counsel arrived Abuja two days ago and will be meeting with the Founder today. The staff is now posted to Abuja. He will be based in Abuja in order to fast forward DPA operations in Abuja.   NOTE: All communications from or to Emeka Ugwuonye's legitimate account are confidential and will be governed by standard rules of confidentiality regardless of the fact that you may be dealing with his aides. At the same time, we encourage you to keep your communications professional in form and content.

We use this opportunity to answer the question some have naively or mischievously asked. That question is: "How can a private person conduct an investigation into a crime in Nigeria when Nigeria does not have licensed private investigators?"   With due respect, that is a dumb question. Everywhere in the world, including Nigeria, a lawyer is duty-bound to investigate every complaint he receives before accepting to play a role in the matter. That was exactly what Gani Fawehinmi did in Dela Giwa's case.  Aka Bashorun and Falana did it in Jennifer Maduike's case. A lawyer must investigate every case that cones to him and follow such investigation where it leads.   Second, the case came to the DPA Founder while he was in the US.   Further, DPA started as a public interest offshoot of Eculaw Group in the US, in affiliation with Eculaw Associates Limited and Eculaw & Co. in Nigeria. DPA was registered in the US as an NGO and in Nigeria as a Foundation.   Finally, the Chacha case was investigated by DPA as a fundamental rights matter under the constitution (right to life) and according to Nigerian law, anybody (even non-lawyers can represent any victim of human rights violation). Also, DPA took on the case because it fell within the category of cases we classify as domestic violence.   So any suggestion that DPA or Emeka Ugwuonye had no right to investigate Chacha's case is plain ignorance or outright mischief. Our organization is interested in finding what happened to Chacha and we urge the police to bury the sentiments and join hands with DPA. If the police have nothing personal in this case, then let's find the truth together. DPA will even allow the police to claim the credit for the investigation we did. But let's find the truth.

  The police wanted to give the country a wish-wash of how a socialite was killed by her boyfriend whose sole motive was to steal her car. But by coincidence, DPA investigated the case and noticed that the official narrative did not add up.   DPA conducted a transparent, intelligent and world class investigation into Chacha's disappearance. The work of DPA made the police look like amateurs. Not only did that make the police envious, it created a hatred toward DPA by the police. They don't want DPA report on the case to come to light. They want to push forward their own theory. But their theory is deeply flawed and their investigation incomplete. For instance, the police could not answer the following 20 questions:   (1) Why was David out of the country the day Chacha went missing? He was in Turkey on a business trip. What business was that? Who did he meet in Turkey? Was there any prior trip on that business or any more trips after? Was he on a legitimate business trip or was it just the standard alibi of the prime suspect being  out of town on the day of the crime?   (2) Who was the person that made the last phone call to Chacha? Why did he call Chacha? Since the police had the number and had successfully tracked other callers, why did they not track that last caller? If they did, what was the caller's business with Chacha?   (3) The police had knowledge of the last call Chacha made and the person she called. How come there is no explanation as to the purpose of that call or the person called?   (4) Few days before her disappearance, Chacha complained to her friends and even posted it on her social media that she was receiving threats from people and she mentioned a lady involved with David as likely source of the threats. How come the police never looked into that direction?   (5) Chacha was so scared about her safety that she hired someone to install a CCTV camera in her apartment. The CCTV was installed two days after her disappearance. The police knew this. How come they did not ascertain from the person that installed the CCTV the details of Chacha's fears and the threats she might have conveyed to the person?   (6) Few days after Chacha's friends gained entry to Chacha's house in the company of a police officer, they found newly made pot of soup that had gone bad. It suggests that Chacha did not plan to travel, but was rather expecting a visitor or visitors. Why didn't the police look into that? And who was likely the visitor?   (7) How come there was no forensic evidence about the state or condition of Chacha's home or room around the time of her disappearance?   (8) How come there was no statement from Chacha's landlady about what she saw or heard or otherwise observed around the house around that time?   (9) Why did the Gwarimpa police station which received the report initially not open a file on the case and if they did, why was that file not transmitted to the command when the case was assigned to the anti-kidnapping unit? And if such file was transmitted, where is the evidence of such initial stage of police investigation?   (10). Why did the Command initiate their investigation as kidnapping case instead of a homicide case, even though the Command got involved more than a week after the disappearance of Chacha? Why did they think she was kidnapped instead if being murdered?   (11) Why was it that the police never made any public announcement that such a woman was missing and call on the public to come with information or to help in finding her? (Instead it was Chacha's friends and DPA that were making efforts in that direction).   (12)  Why did the police not examine the social media activities of Chacha even though her two Facebook accounts remained open for more than a month after her disappearance? Why didn't they try to see how the woman lived her life from social media activities?   (13) Why did the police continue to assume that Chacha was still alive more than a month after she went missing? As a result of this assumption, the police did not expand their search into a possible unidentified dead person. Instead, it was DPA that reasoned along that line of possibility and called for information on any unidentified death. In other words, why was the Command unaware of the unidentified dead body treated by Bwari police station?   (13) Where is the report of the Bwari police station on how they found the body and how they processed the case and what happened to the radio signals they sent to the Command? Why were those signals ignored by the Command, if they were ignored?   (14) What about the sanitation department that disposed of the body; where is their report?   (15) As of the last week of June, 2016, the command was finally aware of possible connection between the unidentified body and Chacha.  What steps did the police take to confirm or rule out that it was Chacha? Why was there no DNA test? Or why was  such test result denied for two years?   (16) Why did David Aiyedegbon obtain a death certificate for Chacha only after Jekwu's 'confession' two years after? It means either that there was no DNA test done or that such test was positive, but was ignored or that it was negative and they are now trying to overule the test result with a coerced confession.   (17) How come the police ignored the overwhelming evidence of motive based on the 6 cases Chacha filed against David? How come the police did not show interest in the dispute between Chacha and David over properties in London and elsewhere?   (18) How come the police did not realize that David and Chacha were discussing cash settlement of the case she reported to the ICPC and money was in issue at the time she disappeared?   (19) In several social media posts, Chacha pointed at David's lover as among the people after her life? Why did the police never obtain any statement from any such person?   (20) DPA began its investigation into Chacha's case on the 13th June 2016. And DPA started with social media evidence, paying close attention to Chacha's activities on Facebook. Within 3 days of announcing DPAs investigation, Chacha's two Facebook accounts were shut down. Why did the police not try to find who had access to Chacha's accounts and how such person obtained them?   There are at least 1000 similar questions that the police failed to ask for there to be an open transparent investigation into the Chacha's case. We hope that the police can change its present attitude of hostility towards DPA and reopen the investigation into this case. Our investigation was not meant to ridicule the police or to expose their skill limitations. Indeed, in more civilised jurisdictions, the Police work hand-in-hand  with NGO's and private individuals wherever the circumstances require such collaboration, in order to exhume and  enthrone the truth and not the victimisation of an organisation or  person(s) who showed genuine interest, the ability and  the willingness to help.   It is hoped that the new police authorities would look at the  above questions critically and reopen investigations into the mysterious disappearance of Chacha and possibly come up with more mind-boggling facts than they have at the moment.   Notwithstanding the  existence of bad eggs in the force, (which is common with other public and private institutions) there are still genuine and honest men and officers in the Nigerian Police Force who can gallantly rise to the occasion and deliver the best possible results.   Daniel Edeachi, Esquire, Staff Counsel, DPA. 13/02/2019

  Yes, we understand that most members of DPA and  lovers of justice in Nigeria actually want to hear that Emeka Ugwuonye regained his freedom after court today. But that that is not what today's appearance is all about. Having been denied bail, it is likely not going to be be this court that will decide on his bail anymore. The court has tied its own hand on the issue. But let nobody worry about it. A different plan is under way. Today's proceeding will focus mainly on the police showing their evidence(s) to back up their bogus allegations. So, the trial-proper opens today. Most likely, David Aiyedegbon will testify about the allegations and will be cross-examined on them. Emeka's freedom shall be for another day. Remain tuned in. Thank you.

When in the past someone compared Emeka Ugwuonye with Gani Fawehinmi, one or two people misunderstood the message. But in truth, no... Read More