‘He is my brother’ — ‘SARS victim’ tells judicial panel about her relationship with Evans

Ndubuisi Obiechina, a teacher who had alleged that she lost her two-month pregnancy in the custody of the disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS), says she is a sister to Chukwudimeme Onwuamadiake, the alleged kidnap kingpin popularly known as Evans.

Obiechina, on Tuesday, appeared before the panel set up by the Lagos state government to probe complaints on police brutality.

During her first appearance before the panel on October 31, she narrated how she was allegedly tortured by officers of the disbanded SARS for 22 days in 2017, a situation she said made her lose her pregnancy.

During the panel’s sitting on Tuesday, Nosa Uhumuangbo, counsel to the police, faulted her claim that she lost her pregnancy in police custody, noting that in her statement, there was no place she mentioned being pregnant.

When asked by Uhumuangbo why she refused to mention it in the statement, she said she wrote based on the questions she was asked at the station.

“They (referring to the police) were very much aware of the pregnancy. I wrote the statement according to the questions that they asked me,” she said.

Explaining why Ndubuisi and her husband were arrested by the police, the police counsel alleged that their phones were used to collect a ransom of $1 million from one Francis Umeh in 2017.

“Were you not told why you were arrested? Are you a relative to the popular Evans?” the police counsel asked Obiechina.

“Can you describe him? Who is he?” Obiechina replied.

The police counsel then read out the full name of Evans, the alleged kidnap kingpin, to which the teacher responded: “He is my brother; I never knew he is popularly known as Evans. I knew he was arrested for kidnapping.”

She also disagreed with the police counsel on the date she was released, and insisted that she spent 22 days in police custody.

The police counsel presented the statement allegedly written by her on June 5, 2017, and a bail document reflecting that she was released on June 11, 2017.

“I was detained for 22 days. I was arrested on June 2 around noon, and when my husband came, he was also arrested. They locked us in the cell and they did not check on us until after three days,” she told the panel.

“It was after three days that Supol Philip said that I should write my statement, but the date on the bail document is not the date we were arrested.”

At the end of the cross examination, Doris Okwuwobi, chairman of the panel, adjourned proceedings till December 8, 2020.