On July 23, the Special Anti-touting Squad Anambra (SASA), an Anambra State-backed local vigilance group, arrested 35-year-old Chibueze Isizoh, a resident, after accusing him of stealing a car battery.
Since his arrest at Osile Ogbunike in Oyi Local Government Area (LGA), Isizoh has gone missing. His family has tried unsuccessfully to get a lead about his last destination.
FIJ learnt that the SASA officials who arrested him first detained him at their uncompleted office located beside Onitsha ShopRite.
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According to Izuchukwu, Isizoh’s brother, an in-law who is a police officer visited the SASA’s office and confirmed that Isizoh was in that facility.
“For two weeks, we did not know where he was. The SASA officials who arrested him did not allow him to speak with his family. One day, he had access to a phone and he told my mother that he was being detained beside ShopRite,” Izuchukwu told FIJ on Sunday.
Chibueze Isizoh.
SASA is feared among many locals in Anambra. Isizoh’s mother could not go to the place herself. So, she explained to Matthias Bassey, her son-in-law who is a police officer. The policeman then went to the facility.
“One month after his arrest, Bassey was allowed to see Isizoh at their ShopRite office because he identified as a police officer. He saw my brother and even bought food and water for him. He told him he was going to come back in the next three days to bring new clothes for him,” said Izuchukwu.
Bassey returned to the facility only to be told that Isizoh had been transferred to the Awka Police Station.
The transfer marked the beginning of a new story for the family.
Sometime in August, the family went to the police station in Awka and they denied having Isizoh in their custody. The family narrated the information they were given by SASA officials, yet this station’s response remained unchanged: they maintained that such an individual did not exist in their facility.
On Tuesday, Izuchukwu and Bassey went back to the SASA’s office beside Onitsha ShopRite to report that they were unable to locate Isizoh in Awka. But the vigilantes disclosed new information; they said two batches of suspects were transferred out of their office the day Isizoh was transferred. One batch went to the Awka Police Station and the other to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Awkuzu, a supposedly defunct brutal police formation known as Awkuzu SARS which was reputed for extrajudicial killings.
The authorities claimed to have disbanded the same murderous police unit in 2021 for its unholy activities and dark record of human rights violations.
“We went back to SASA on Tuesday and they told us that Chidi Nwachukwu, the man who supervised the transfer, had not returned from a trip he embarked on. The vigilantes on duty once again confirmed that my brother was indeed in their facility before he was transferred to another place. They added that two groups of suspects left their facility the same day: some were transferred to Awka and some were transferred to Awkuzu SARS,” Isizoh’s brother explained.
Nwachukwu, the SASA official who transferred Isizoh out of their office, did not respond to both text and phone calls placed to his line at press time.
Having earlier gone to Awka without any lead, Izuchukwu proceeded to Awkuzu SARS where he was told his brother was not in their custody.
Thinking that Isizoh would probably have been remanded in prison if he had been arraigned in court, Izuchukwu then went to the Awka and Onitsha correctional centres on Saturday. At these facilities, he provided Isizoh’s personal information, including name, address and age. But prison officials at both correctional centres said he was not in their facilities.
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Before going to the correctional facilities, Izuchukwu had gone to the Anambra State Police Command’s State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) on Friday but the response was not different.
“The SCID said my brother was not with them,” he said.
“Even though we don’t know who accused him of stealing their battery, we are not opposed to having him face the law if it is true. But we deserve to know his whereabouts and provide him with all the necessary support he needs.
“As it stands now, we don’t know if my brother is alive or if he has been killed. My mother is deeply troubled. Please, my family needs help to know my brother’s state of being.”
When contacted, Ikenganyia Anthony, the Anambra police spokesman, told FIJ via text on Saturday that he was not aware of the case. “I don’t have any information on this,” he said.
The post Anambra Anti-Touting Squad Can’t Produce Chibueze Isizoh After Arresting Him in July appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.