I was four months pregnant – Wife of man abducted over IPOB membership in 2021

By John Ogunsemore

Amnesty International Nigeria has called on the authorities to explain the disappearance of Chidiebere Luke Echefu, a 47-year-old man abducted in 2021 by suspected security agents over alleged membership of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

In an online petition, the rights group disclosed that the father of five from Umugwano Umuchekekwe in Onuimo LGA of Imo state was abducted from his home.

Amnesty said ‘security agents’ stormed Echefu’s residence in Owerri, Imo state on November 7, 2021 at about 3:00am, over alleged membership of IPOB and whisked him away to an undisclosed location.

The group said Echefu has not been seen “since his abduction”.

His wife, a 41-year-old schoolteacher who witnessed his abduction, recounted the event to Amnesty International.

She said, “My husband, Chidiebere Luke Echefu, was abducted from our residence in Owerri on 7 November 2021 at about 3:00am.

“About six men in uniform broke our flat door and entered our house.

“When my husband came out, the first thing they asked him is: ‘Where is your phone!?’

“My children were all panicky, so I left our room and went to their room to calm them down.

“They got the phone and started interrogating him.

“I said to them: ‘Sir, you have not even identified yourselves. Who are you? Why are you in our house?’

“They handcuffed him and whisked him away.”

She said frantic efforts to locate her husband have all proved abortive.

“We went to all the police stations in Owerri to search for him. They said he was not in their custody.

“We also went to the DSS office at Owerri, but they denied having him in their custody,” she stated.

Mrs Echefu added, “On 2 January 2022, I received a call from a lawyer who told me he saw my husband at the DSS headquarters in Abuja.

“When we went there, the DSS denied having him in their custody. Nobody saw him. Nobody knows his whereabouts.

“I was four months pregnant when he was abducted. The child is a year and four months now, but my husband has not seen the child, and they have not allowed any member of the family to have access to him.”

In December 2024, then IPOB lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor disclosed on X that Echefu was in DSS custody and urged its Director General, Adeola Ajayi to release the detainee.

Ejimakor disclosed that he filed “suits to free him but DSS is resisting”.