A widower, identified as Mr Solomon Wilfred has claimed that his wife, Vivienne, who was six-week pregnant, died from “emotional stress” after she was released from Police custody… The Nation reports.
Wilfred, who got married to the late Vivienne last December, said she was taken to Akinpelu Police Station in Oshodi on March 15 by a policeman following an argument with another woman, Chinwendu Udomadu over a teenage girl, Perpetual Ucheweaku at the nearby Arena Market.
Mrs Udomadu and her daughter, Chinemerem, claimed that Perpetual was Osinachi Udomadu, who had been missing since 2014. The late Mrs Wilfred debunked their claim, saying the girl is under her guidance. She added that she knew the girl’s parents, and had known the girl since she was about eight years old.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Akinpelu was said to have transferred the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) at Panti, Yaba, claiming that it was a criminal case which could not be handled at his station.
Wilfred told the publication that at Panti, his wife was detained in a cell while he wrote a statement. He said he begged to swap places with her since she was pregnant and “suffers stress induced seizures”.
“I told them she was pregnant and sick. I told them she had stress induced seizures, and I went upstairs to write the statement for me to swap places with her.
But when I came back, they had thrown her into the cell.
“I even thought they put her behind the counter to wait for me to write the statement, but she was in the cell.
“Then I told them to release her because I already told them she was not feeling fine”, he said.
Wilfred said his wife died on March 16, following her release the previous day. Police spokesperson Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent (SP), said the late Mrs Wilfred was released on health grounds and was never put in the cell.
“She was never put in the cell and she was released by the ACP SCID immediately her husband said she was six weeks pregnant and has health challenges.
“The ACP later called and told me that she has been informed the woman fainted at home and was rushed to the hospital where she passed on,” she said.
But the widower said the “emotional stress” she went through in the cell, and his subsequent detention triggered the seizure that led to her death.
Badmos said:
“The police did nothing wrong in the matter. The suspects (Chinwendu and Chinemerem Udomadu) have been charged to court and the result of the DNA test is still being awaited.”