DIED IN EFCC CUSTODY

Susanne, the widow of the  Protocol Officer of the Minister of  Defence, Mr. Desmond Nunugwo, has accused the Economic and financial Crimes Commission of killing her husband and labelling him a criminal.

She explained that six hours after Desmond was taken into custody, he became lifeless.
She informed Newsmen that she has been calling her husband’s phone repeatedly but it was switched off as she did not understand he was in EFCC’s custody in Wuse 2, Abuja.

Susanne stated that, “around 3pm on June 9, my husband had gone to pick up our son from college and both of them came home. He later went out  around 6pm, 
I tried his number severally later, but it was switched off.

“The following morning, I was frightened because, he didn’t come home. However, at about 12 minutes to 4pm, someone called me with his cellphone and said my husband was in the EFCC’s custody and that I need to come to bail him.”

Susanne said on arriving  EFCC, she was advised to move and get a person because being a lady, her husband could not be released on bail to her. Shortly after leaving, the EFCC  issued a press announcement breaking the news of Desmond’s death.

She stated that “The EFCC called me to their workplace to return and bail my husband while he was already in the mortuary.

“I later obtained a smartphone call from a former colleague of mine that he had read the information online that my husband  had died.”

Susanne berated the EFCC for labelling her husband a fraudster even after causing his demise, including that the anti-graft employer need to clear his name.

The nephew of the deceased, Amaechi Ihezie, informed Newsmen that once he visited the EFCC, investigators informed him that Desmond slumped and died.

He said the anti-graft agency denied Desmond bail even after it was found that he did  not obtain any cash from the transaction.

Ihezie accused the EFCC of being overzealous as the commission did not  inform the Ministry of Defence of Desmond’s arrest or research despite the fact that he had been operating in the ministry for over 10 years.

“The EFCC informed me that earlier than he died, he wrote an assertion of four pages. They gave him his phone to make requires approximately two hours and then no one got here to bail him and so  they stated that they transferred him to their head workplace and that some hours later, he started to complain of pain and slumped. They said he was rushed to the clinic and confirmed dead,” he added.

In a petition addressed
to the legal professional Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), the lawyer of the family, Mr. Paul Edeh, alleged a cover-up in the case.

Edeh stated the EFCC had released all those, who were in detention with Desmond, on the day he died in order that there would be no witnesses.

The petition in part says, “The EFCC has blatantly refused that an autopsy examination should be performed on the corpse so as to avoid any indictment.
“After many visits by our client to the EFCC and the police, both corporations have maintained that Desmond died a sudden death, consequently, wonders how both the police and the EFCC should play this sort of unusual role in the absence of a clinical examination to decide the reason of his death.”
But, the EFCC had said in an announcement by  its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, that the deceased allegedly fraudulently obtained N91m from an acquaintance after he tricked her into believing that he had excessive net worth business  in Dubai, who had been at the verge of buying NICON coverage, and convinced her of their disposition to help her stockfish enterprise.
 She allegedly wired N91m into an account,  in Diamond bank.

The EFCC added, “After the transfer of the funds, he became evasive forcing the complainant to report the case to the EFCC. Consequently, he became arrested in Utako, Abuja, at approximately five.33pm on Thursday, June nine, 2016.

“He admitted to receiving the money from the complainant, with the additional information that he transferred N30m of the stated cash to Norway. But he could not give an explanation for the whereabouts  of N61m.

“The suspect was detained at approximately 7.30pm,with noone to take him on bail. Six hours later, he  complained of pain and was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.”