Elo Edremoda, Warri
A LAWYER, Albert Agbense, has told the Delta Judicial Panel of Enquiry sitting in Warri that the police demanded N1 million to release the husband of his client, Ese Abugewa, who was arrested for alleged kidnapping and murder.
The petition, which was heard yesterday, said the husband, Jeffrey Abugewa, was arrested on August 14, 2020 and had been in police custody until November 24, when he was remanded to the Nigeria Correctional Centre at Ogwashi-Uku by a Magistrates’ court.
Agbense said the police refused to obey an earlier order to bring the accused before a Magistrates’ Court in Asaba, the state capital.
The lawyer said a day to when the case was to be heard by the panel, the police told the woman to pay N1 million for her husband’s release, a sum she could not raise.
But few hours later, they (the counsel and wife) learnt that Jeffrey had been remanded in the Correctional Centre at Ogwashi-Uku.
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Addressing reporters, Agbense said: “The petitioner’s husband was arrested on August 14, 2020. The police were moving him from one station to the other. Nobody knew where he was until over a month.
“We discovered he was kept at the anti-kidnapping office by Azuka Egede, who is a member of one the response teams of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
“We discovered that they were using his phone to transfer money from the boy’s account into their own account. They shot at his ears and they kept him there.”
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