I’m dying, save me, please send money – Outrage trails killing of Abuja lawyer by kidnappers after demanding N3m ransom

By Kingsley Omonobi & Nwabueze Okonkwo

The killing of an Abuja-based lawyer, Nwamaka Chigbo, by still-to-be-identified kidnappers in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has elicited outrage across the country and thrown her family into depression.

The incident has also prompted legal practitioners to raise questions about the state of security in Abuja, leading them to call for an overhaul of the FCT’s security framework.

Nwamaka was a former Treasurer of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja, a member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, and the Global Association of Female Lawyers, GAFA, among other prominent professional legal organisations.

This is coming as the deceased family announced Nwamaka, who is the elder sister of Dr Maureen Chigbo, Editor/Publisher of Nigeria’s pioneer online news medium, Realnews Magazine’s death.

A statement by the family said before her abduction, Nwamaka was on the phone with Anthonia, another sister.

Distress cry

The statement reads in part: “When Anthonia reverted, Nwamaka’s phone was still live, with her distress cry heard in the background before the phone suddenly got dead and unreachable.

Anthonia 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. When a call finally went through, a male voice rained curses in English and Hausa language, saying: send three million Naira or we will kill her.”

According to the statement, the captors gave no further details and abruptly terminated subsequent calls. The family contacted the police, who sprang into action, assuring that they 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.”

The statement added: “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.”

While making frantic efforts for Nwamaka’s rescue, the family said they were informed on Tuesday, January 6 that “a lady had been found in a critical condition and taken to an Abuja specialist hospital.”

According to the statement, 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.”

Outrage

Her death has led former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA Abuja, Unity Bar, Afam Okeke, to call for synergy and intelligence-sharing among security agencies to curb the menace of one chance syndicates in Abuja.

Okeke made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on the sidelines of a press conference organised by International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, Nigeria, Abuja Branch, to condemn the gruesome murder of Nwamaka.

Okeke urged security agencies, including the police, DSS and the NSCDC to intensify intelligence-driven patrols, arrests and to prosecute offenders, adding that therem was need for effective and proactive policing in the FCT.

He said: “I call on the police to deploy all necessary resources to ensure that the perpetrators of this dastardly act are brought to justice, to forestall any future occurrence.

“All necessary machinery should be set in motion to improve the security architecture in the FCT, particularly as it relates to the ‘one chance’ menace. Residents of FCT deserve to go about their legitimate businesses without fear, and to sleep with both eyes closed. While I commend the FCTA for the good job it is doing in the area of infrastructure, I implore them not to forget to secure the city. More street lights and CCTV must be installed all over the city.”

Also, human rights lawyer, Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, condemned her kidnapping in a statement issued to newsmen via WhatsApp.

Ejiofor called for urgent, discreet and intelligence-driven measures to curb the menace of one-chance elements, saying there was a need for comprehensive vehicle profiling, mandatary registration, digital tagging and biometric capturing of all commercial transport operators within the FCT, elimination of unregistered taxis through sustained enforcement with an undercover intelligent operations.

He said: “One-chance kidnappers are organised criminal elements who operate using unmarked or deceptively marked vehicles, often posing as commercial taxis. They lure unsuspecting passengers, especially lone commuters, only to abduct, rob, torture, and, increasingly, murder them. Their operations thrive on poor intelligence, weak surveillance, and leadership distractions.

“There is a need therefore for the deployment of plain-clothes operatives to infiltrate known transport corridors and criminal networks, use of informants within motor parks and transport unions, technology-driven sure, expansion of real-time CCTV coverage integrated with AI-based vehicle recognition, emergency passenger alert systems linked to FCT security command centres, public awareness and passenger education. Other necessary measures include massive sensitisation campaigns on identifying suspicious vehicles and safe commuting practices, encouragement of ride verification culture and leadership accountability.”

Investigations

The police, however, said they had commenced investigations to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident, with a firm commitment to ensuring that the perpetrators are identified, apprehended, and brought to justice.

Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, CP Miller Dantawaye, said this after a delegation of the NBA was received at the Command Headquarters in Abuja last Friday.

The police statement said: “The delegation formally expressed their strong institutional concern over the tragic killing of their member and colleague, Ms. Princess Ochigbo, whose lifeless body was discovered along the Kubwa Expressway, Abuja. During the interaction, the Commissioner of Police commiserated with the delegation over the painful loss and assured them that the Command has commenced extensive and discreet investigations into the circumstances surrounding the incident, with a firm commitment to ensuring that the perpetrators are identified, apprehended, and brought to justice.”

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