PRESS RELEASE
20th August 2025
WHEN JUSTICE SLEEPS: CEHRAWS JOINS CALL FOR GOVERNOR OTTI’S URGENT INTERVENTION IN THE CHIKADIBIA FAMILY TRAGEDY
The Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and Wholesome Society (CEHRAWS) is appalled and outraged at the chilling ordeal of the Chikadibia family of Alaukwu Village, Osisioma Ngwa, Abia State, whose patriarch, Mr. Sunday Chikadibia (63), and his three daughters (Glory, Ngozi, and Ogechi) were abducted in Gestapo-style by operatives alleged to be from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Abia State Police Command on the 12th of April 2025, without a warrant, without charge, and in utter contempt of the most basic principles of due process.
For weeks, the police brazenly denied holding them, only to surreptitiously arraign them on frivolous and unsubstantiated charges of terrorism, contrary to all known tenets of fair hearing under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). To worsen matters, their home was reportedly demolished, their means of livelihood extinguished, and the matriarch of the family, Mrs. Chioma Chikadibia, tragically lost her life on the 8th of August 2025 from depression induced by this orchestrated persecution.
This conduct, if left unchecked, signals nothing short of a descent into tyranny.
THE LEGAL POSITION
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) in:
✓ Section 34(1) guarantees the right to dignity of the human person, prohibiting inhuman or degrading treatment.
✓ Section 35(1) enshrines the right to personal liberty, only to be curtailed in accordance with clear and justifiable procedures of law.
✓ Section 36(6) secures the right to counsel of choice and the presumption of innocence.
✓ Section 43 guarantees the right to property, which was desecrated when the Chikadibia family home was demolished without judicial order.
Furthermore, the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) 2015, applicable in Abia State, criminalizes secret detentions and imposes a duty on law enforcement to produce suspects before a court within 24–48 hours. The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP), domesticated in Abia, also recognizes psychological abuse and destruction of livelihood as violence against persons.
By these flagrant violations, the police acted not as protectors of law but as predators against the citizenry.
OUR DEMANDS
As a civil rights body committed to the defense of human dignity, CEHRAWS hereby joins RULAAC and other voices of conscience in demanding that His Excellency, Dr. Alex Otti, Governor of Abia State, as Chief Security Officer of the State, urgently:
1. Order the immediate review of the case and secure the release of Mr. Chikadibia and his three daughters, whose continued incarceration offends every principle of justice.
2. Ensure that Miss Ogechi Chikadibia, a final-year student, is enabled to complete her academic year without further disruption.
3. Constitute an independent panel of inquiry into the raid, illegal detention, clandestine arraignment, and demolition of the Chikadibia family home.
4. Hold every police officer involved accountable, both administratively and criminally, to restore public confidence in law enforcement.
5. Provide adequate remedies and compensation to the surviving members of the Chikadibia family for the death of Mrs. Chioma, the destruction of property, and the unlawful detention endured.
WHY GOVERNOR OTTI MUST ACT
The Governor cannot remain a spectator while institutions of state become instruments of oppression. As Chief Security Officer, he bears constitutional and moral responsibility to ensure that security agencies operate within the law and not above it. Silence or inaction in the face of such grave abuse emboldens impunity, erodes public trust, and weakens the very foundation of democracy.
The blood of Mrs. Chioma, shed indirectly through state-sanctioned brutality, cries for justice. The anguish of a detained father and daughters demands redress. To do nothing is to endorse injustice; to act is to restore hope and dignity.
CONCLUSION
Justice delayed is justice denied. One life has already been lost to this cruelty. Governor Alex Otti has a defining opportunity to prove that in Abia State, the Constitution is not a dead letter, and that security institutions are servants, not masters, of the people.
We therefore urge the Governor, the Abia State House of Assembly, the Attorney-General of Abia, the Inspector-General of Police, and the National Human Rights Commission to rise to the voice of reason, intervene immediately, and rescue the Chikadibia family from the dark abyss of injustice.
Signed:
Okoye, Chuka Peter
Executive Director – CEHRAWS
cehraws@gmail.com
+234(0)803-552-9865.
