How ex-NBA treasurer Nwamaka Chigbo was abducted, killed in Abuja

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

The family of Nwamaka Mediatrix Chigbo, a former treasurer of the FCT branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has explained how she was found dead after yet-to-be identified gunment abducted her in Abuja.

The remains of the lawyer were discovered on Monday after her abduction in the nation’s capital.

Maureen Chigbo, a former president of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and sister to the deceased explained how the lawyer was found dead after her abduction in a statement on Thursday.

According to the statement, Barrister Nwamaka was on the phone with her sister Anthonia when she was abducted.

The sister had briefly went off the phone to attend to a client. But When she returned to continue the call, though the barrister’s phone was still alive, Anthonia could only hear her sister’s distress cry.

The phone suddenly went dead and unreachable.

Anthonia, according to the statement, 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.

But when a call finally went through, it was a male voice that rained curses in English and Hausa language that was heard, saying: “Thunder fire you there, send three million Naira or else we will kill her.”

The family said the kidnappers gave no further details and abruptly terminated subsequent calls.

The family of the lawyer said they later tried to contact the Police Force Public Relations Officer and left a text message on her phone and they were referred to two police complaint numbers.

“The family equally 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 called to inform 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,” Chigbo said.

But according to her, 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 said they maintained contact with the Police Commander throughout Monday night to follow up on the rescue operation and 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.

But this was not to be as the family said the Commander later called to inform them that “a lady had been found in a critical condition” and taken to an Abuja specialist hospital.

The Commander had requested that Nwamaka’s picture 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,” said the family

“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.”

According to the family, the late Nwamaka was an active member and former treasurer of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja, a member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, IFWL, FIDA and Global Association of Female Lawyers, GAFA. She was a former President of the Catholic Lawyers Association, Abuja.

The family added that late Nwaka was also an ardent Catholic who authored a book on Infant Jesus,

She was the vice president of the Infant Jesus Association, a member of the Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Group, among other religious groups until her death.

The family also expressed 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.

“The family also wishes to thank Nwamaka’s friends, colleagues and well-wishers for their support and prayers. Her funeral arrangements will be announced as soon as possible, the statement concluded.