The family of Princess Nwamaka Mediatrix Chigbo, an Abuja-based lawyer, has revealed how she was brutally murdered by an unidentified kidnappers in the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory on Monday.
Before her abduction, Barrister Nwamaka was on the phone with her sister Anthonia, who briefly interrupted the call to attend to a client, the family said in a statement signed by Maureen Chigbo,the publisher of RealNews
According to the statement, when she reverted, the barrister’s phone was still live, and Anthonia could hear her sister’s distress cry before the phone suddenly went dead and unreachable.
She alerted her elder sister, Maureen Chigbo, and other family members, who called the lawyer’s number repeatedly to reach her or her abductors to no avail.
When a call finally went through, a male voice rained curses in English and Hausa language, saying: “Thunder fire you there, send three million Naira or else we will kill her.” The captors gave no further details and abruptly terminated subsequent calls.
Her family later tried to contact the Police Force Public Relations Officer and left a text message on her phone. They were referred to two police complaint numbers.
The family also sent a distress text and WhatsApp message to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), and also contacted the FCT Police Commissioner, who immediately linked them up to the Commander of the Scorpion Squad, in charge of kidnapping in Abuja.
The Commander later informed the family that the police were tracking the kidnappers, who were said to be “in motion and would likely drop the lawyer off once they might have collected the ransom.”
The kidnappers never initiated any calls, and when Nwamaka’s family members reached them through her phone for clarification on how the ransom would be paid, they only heard the lawyer screaming in pain, “I am dying. …save me, please send the money, I am dying,” before the phone finally went dead again.
The family maintained contact with the Police Commander throughout Monday night to follow up on the rescue operation.
At 4 am on Tuesday, 6th January, when Maureen called the Commander, he expressed surprise that the lawyer had not called or returned home. He then promised to escalate the rescue operation.
The Commander later informed the family that “a lady had been found in a critical condition” and taken to an Abuja specialist hospital. He requested that Nwamaka’s picture be sent for identification purposes.
Maureen immediately took a flight from Lagos to Abuja and on reaching the hospital, saw her sister’s lifeless body in the mortuary with bruises, swollen eyes and a cracked skull, all signs of a tortured death.
The Chigbo family has met with the Police authorities, who assured them that the case was under investigation and that the culprits would be apprehended.
Nwamaka was an active member and former treasurer of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja, member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, IFWL, FIDA and Global Association of Female Lawyers, GAFA. She was a former President of Catholic Lawyers Association, Abuja.
An ardent Catholic, Nwamaka authored a book on Infant Jesus, and until death was the vice president of the Infant Jesus Association, member of the Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Group among other religious groups.
The family expresses its gratitude to the Police for their efforts and cooperation so far, and urges the force to ensure that justice is served in Nwamaka’s case.
