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The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has raised the alarm over what it described as a troubling abuse of police authority allegedly carried out in Imo State, under circumstances that raised serious questions about the legality, professionalism, and human rights compliance.
HURIWA claimed a possession of a petition submitted to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 9 Headquarters, Umuahia, by Jesmond Okonkwo Esq., Solicitors & Legal Consultants, Owerri, detailing a volatile family dispute surrounding the death of Mr. Vitus Ugbaja, who reportedly died in July 2025, in Kafanchan, Kaduna State.
According to the petition, tensions erupted between members of the deceased’s family and his widow, Mrs. Chibuzor Ugbaja, over burial arrangements scheduled for March 21 and 22, 2026, as well as alleged disputes over properties of the late husband.
While the petition detailed allegations of threats and counter-accusations between parties, HURIWA is particularly alarmed by what transpired in the early hours of Wednesday.
It wrote: “HURIWA finds deeply disturbing the allegation that, at about 3am, the widow allegedly arrived with a heavily armed contingent of police officers, reportedly drawn from the CID unit in Owerri, and proceeded to storm the residence of the deceased’s family.
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“The petition further alleges that the officers whisked away the brothers of the late Mr. Ugbaja, in what has been described as a “brutal, Gestapo-style operation”, allegedly aimed at obstructing burial arrangements and intimidating the grieving family.
“This alleged action becomes even more alarming given reports that the Assistant Inspector General of Police overseeing Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi States was already seized of the matter, prior to the controversial raid—raising questions about command structure, legality of deployment, and possible abuse of authority.
“HURIWA strongly condemns what it describes—if confirmed—as a reckless descent into institutional abuse, where police operatives are allegedly deployed in the dead of night, to intervene in a civil family dispute involving burial rites and inheritance tensions.”
It noted that such conduct, “if true, represents a dangerous erosion of police neutrality and a blatant affront to constitutional safeguards against arbitrary arrest, intimidation, and abuse of state power.”
