Dorcas Nwakor, the pregnant wife of a 26-year-old businessman, Chibueze, who was allegedly killed by policemen in Onitsha, Anambra State, on October 13, 2023, talks to Punch about the incident
How did you receive the news of your husband’s death?
My name is Dorcas Nwakor. I am 26 years old. I am from the Uduwunko Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. I am married with three kids. Chibueze Nwakor was my husband. I met him in 2017 and we got married in 2018.
Nobody told me about it. My husband visited his mother that fateful day. So, at about 2 pm, I called my husband to tell him to buy some meat from the market whenever he came back home. At about 7 pm, as I was about to start preparing dinner, I called my husband again to know whether he would be coming back or not; his phone rang, but nobody picked up the call. At about 8 pm, I called again but his younger sister took the call and started crying on the phone. I also heard the cries of other people, but nobody was able to talk to me. So, I dressed my children up and we went to my husband’s mother’s residence. When we arrived, we did not see anybody, I asked the neighbours, and they told me that they had taken my husband to the hospital. When I asked what happened, they said some policemen shot him. They also took me to the hospital.
What happened at the hospital?
When I got to the hospital, they did not allow me to see him that night because of my condition; I am pregnant. It was the following morning that I got to know that he had died. The policemen killed my husband for no justifiable reason. He did not provoke them in any way, just that he could not help them with the direction they were looking for which is not an offence in any way. It was not a case of criminal investigation, resistance to arrest or case of any criminality. They killed my husband for no just cause and turned me into a widow at an early age, leaving behind three little children. Where do I tell his children their father went to? The wrath of God will descend on the killers of my husband one by one.
From that moment till now, I have been crying and I have not been myself. I don’t know what to do, there is no help for me from anywhere. Look at my children, look at my condition.
What is the current stage of your pregnancy?
I am five months pregnant. Where will I run to now? Who will help me? My medication and my ante-natal care have been suspended because there is no money, and my children are no longer going to school. Look at my mother-in-law’s condition; people have been carrying her up and down. Since she stopped going to the market, there has been no money to take care of her condition; even the money that was used to take her to the hospital was provided by the neighbours. There is no food to eat and my children have been hungry, all because of what the police have done to us. This is unjustifiable. We need people, kind-spirited individuals to come to our rescue at the moment.
What kind of husband was he?
First and foremost, that day was the saddest day of my life. It was a very bad day for me. I and my husband lived together before his untimely death at the hands of the police. There were very fond memories of my husband. Where do I start from? He was a very kind and caring man who took his responsibilities very passionately. He did not quarrel with anyone and no one can say he quarreled with him. He promised to open a business for me and he had started the process. My husband took care of my mother and siblings. He was a very caring man, that is why his absence is being felt right now.
If you lived close to my husband, you would fall in love with him. Ever since I knew my husband, he never fought any man or woman in the community. We are living witnesses and they can testify to his goodness. Even in my next life, I will still love to marry him.
What kind of justice do you want for your late husband?
I want justice for my husband. His killers should tell us the reason they killed him. I am helpless now. I don’t have any father, my husband was everything I had. My father left me at a tender age. My husband who was offering me the fatherly care that I did not get has been killed for no just cause. The acting IGP should intervene. President Bola Tinubu should intervene. The Anambra State Government should intervene. Kind-hearted individuals should also intervene. We need help to train my children. I am in pain and I don’t know what to do.
Is this what we deserve as citizens? I want the state government to make the policeman who killed my husband face justice. I also need the government to take care of us, my children, and everything. As I am talking to you right now, my mother is lying down in the hospital. I am helpless, there is no hope for me anymore. Who will pay our house rent that is about to expire? The landlord has started disturbing us. The landlord called me and reminded me that our house rent would soon be due. When I have my baby, who will take care of me? The government should have mercy on me and my children. They (policemen) have taken away my hope, the only man, my husband, my father, and my everything.
