The counsel also told the panel that the victim is related to the alleged kidnap kingpin.
Nzube Obiechina, a school teacher who lost her two-month-old pregnancy during police torture in Lagos, was arrested to aid the capture of the alleged kidnapper, Chukwudi Dumee Onwuamadike, also known as Evans.
A police counsel said this during Tuesday’s sitting at the judicial panel of inquiry in Lagos.
Nosa Uhumwangho, a counsel representing the Intelligence Response Team, a unit of the Nigerian Police, also told the panel that the victim is related to the alleged kidnap kingpin.
He told the panel that Mr Onwuamadike was the victim’s brother and her phone number was one of the numbers linked to a kidnap allegedly carried out by Evans.
Mr Uhumwangho however denied that the police tortured Mrs Obiechina despite a judgement of a Federal High Court and Appeal Court in favour of the victim.
Mrs Obiechina approached the Lagos Judicial Panel on October 31 to seek enforcement of a N2 miliion judgement of a Federal High Court in her favour against the Nigerian Police.
She, alongside her husband, Okwuchukwu Obiechina, also sought redress at the panel against the torture, abuse and unlawful detention they faced in the hands of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS).
She told the panel that the officers that arrested her said they were acting on the orders of Abba Kyari, the leader of Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
Mrs Obiechina said the police tortured her, kept her in an open cell, denied her food and water for days despite knowing that she was pregnant.
“I was two months pregnant, they were beating me, I was urinating on my cloth, they said they will kill me,” she said.
The victim told the panel that she spent 22 days in police detention and lost her pregnancy following the torture.
Mr Obiechina was also detained alongside his wife and they were both tortured and brutalised by the police.
The couple urged the Judicial Panel of Inquiry to enforce the judgment of the Federal High Court and payment of N2 million damage by the police force.
Victims related to Evans — Police Counsel
Mr Uhumwangho, the legal counsel to the IRT, while cross-examining the victims on Tuesday, said they were arrested because they were related to Evans and they were helpful to his arrest.
He told the panel that no summon was served by the panel, either to the FSARS or the Commander of the IRT, Abba Kyari, but rather to the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Yaba.
“I heard it through media and publications that my office was indicted. Service was not made,” he said.
He told the panel that there are different formations of the police and there is a distinction between the Lagos state command and his office.
