Publisher of NationGuard News, Fidel Ozugha, arrested for conspiracy over death of a 74-year-old woman in Abagana, faults Nigerian police for defamation without due investigation
….. Says the deceased is his stepmother, and he only got to the crime scene a day after hearing of her death due to distance; meanwhile, the real suspect is at large.
By Onome Naomi
A trending story circulating in the public space from Saturday, January 25, 2025 till date states that, “The police in Anambra State police operatives serving at Abagana Divisional Police Headquarters on 26/1/2024 by 9 am arrested four suspects, including a 21-year-old lady, Chinenye Ekwenugo, from Ifitedunu, over the burning of a 74 (seventy-four) year old woman in a wheel in Abagana.
“The three other suspects include Uzochukwu Okeke ‘M’ aged 54, Fidel Anayo (denying my surname, OZUGHA) ‘M’ (my very self) aged over 60, and Ikenna Anene ‘M’ aged years, respectively.
“During interrogation by the police operatives, the suspect, Chinenye, CONFESSED THAT HER BOYFRIEND, IFEANYI IGWE, WHO IS CURRENTLY AT LARGE, AND THREE OTHERS SET THE VICTIM ABLAZE and got a casket to bury her before the intervention of the security operatives.”
Fidel Ozugha, who is the stepson of the deceased and alleged conspirator, explained his own side of the story, saying:
The woman, the late Mrs. Alice Anene, was my stepmother who brought me up. I stayed with her and her late husband, late Mr. Chukwunweike Anene, to babysit their only son, Tochukwu Anen, late, until I entered secondary school in 1979. She was everything a mother could be to me, providing me with emotional, psychological, and material support and other motherly assistance. I was called her first son due to the bond we share as mother and son.
As year passed , she aged, she became old and heavy such that she couldn’t walk on her feet any more. A wheelchair was provided for easy access to move around, but she spends most of her morning and evening lying in bed, except it’s necessary for her to move about a little. In her lifetime, she has six daughters and, gloriously, a great-grandmother.
I got a WhatsApp message around 10 pm Saturday night from Obinna Anene—a nephew—while weak and half asleep. So I put my phone off to read it later when I would wake up to work around 1.30 am.
The text message reads that my stepmother is dead; in shock and sadness, I replied to Obinna, who sent the message, asking him what happened to her, but the little information he could give was that she was burnt alive while in bed. Then I asked how—by kitchen fire or electric or what. He asked that I should visit the family, which I hurriedly did by the morning of the next day, suspending other schedules for the day. I called the eldest man in our family, Chief Christopher Ozugha (Akunwafor Abagana), and briefed him about her death and that I was going there.
So on getting there, I saw people sitting, some standing, and discussing in groups. I asked Fidelia, the first daughter, what happened. She replied that Mama has gone. I went further to ask how come and what actually happened. She replied that it was what they beheld. I greeted two other stepmothers, Mrs. Felicia and Mrs. Rita, mother of Ikenna Anene. I inferred from their interactions that the victim was ignited by a fellow at large.
I then proceeded to the crime scene to behold her remains covered with a mat and a bag containing her burnt body, which I later learned was beside the covered body. I couldn’t contain myself. So this woman who breastfed me and gave me succor would be reduced to ashes; the realization of the reason for her death sent chills throughout my body. I was also told that some people involved had been arrested.
Then I thought of the best thing to do in such a situation. I called Chief Uchenna Anene (Uchesco), who is the head of the Anene family, and we agreed to go and get a casket. I called DPO Njikoka/Abagana Police Station thrice, but he didn’t pick my calls. He later called back, and I introduced myself to him, explaining the situation. In a lighter mode, he also said he is a journalist but a policeman by profession.
Since there was no body bag and remains were in such a sorry state—an eyesore of the highest order—the situation might warrant an autopsy, in which case the casket might serve that purpose. The mat she was wrapped in was in the way to be used for that, a delicate saving of her body parts before burial as the corpse was in ruins.
When we came with the casket, I had to call her relations to inform them of her death. Twice I called Prof. Prosper Okonkwo, but he didn’t pick up my calls, so I sent him an SMS message, which he later replied to, confirming that he had gotten news of the tragedy.
So with Uchesco, we went to get a carton of beer and a hot drink with which to go and visit her people and inform them formally of the incident as tradition demands.
On getting back to the scene to pick up Uzochukwu Okeke, whose mother was a senior sister to the late Mrs. Alice, to go with us to his mother’s people, the DPO with his men was already in the compound interrogating some people.
The locked entrance was opened for us to come in. The DPO was calling my number, asking who called him with the number, explaining that the owner of the number claimed that the deceased was his stepmother. I came in at the time of the questioning and answered him in affirmation. There and then he asked his men to arrest me, for I was a suspect.
I didn’t understand and asked him why, especially his use of the word ‘SUSPECT’ for me and on me. He asked who bought the casket, and I said we did. He exclaimed that we all were trying to cover up our crime.
Furthermore, DPO Peter of Abagana Police station, who have refused to investigate the matter but would rather arrest for the purpose of holding someone responsible for the incident went on to give our pictures for publication to BBC and used on Facebook. Moreover, the false information and allegation were passed on to the Anambra Women Affairs Commission, which prompted their Facebook publication. I consider this gross wickedness and violation of my fundamental human rights. This defamation allegation will not be left unattended to as my integrity is at stake.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ikenna Anene, whose picture appeared along with ours, was also arrested by the police. Mr. Ikenna is the son of the late Francis Anene, who was a senior brother to the husband of the late Alice in question. He is a cousin to the children of the deceased. So two of us were asked to enter their vehicle. The remains were collected and kept in the casket, and the bag was also taken to Beke Hospital for autopsy and embalming.
Meanwhile, we were taken to the police station together with the four daughters of the woman, barring the last one. We spent the night inside the cell where ventilation was more of carbon dioxide than oxygen. Apart from the dwarf, burglary-proof-like iron door, there are only two pigeonhole openings atop the corners in the cell.
The accusation that I, Fidel Anayo Ozugha, Publisher and Editor in Chief of The NationGuardNews online newspaper Lagos and Managing Director of the NationGuardTV, am among the arrested four suspects over the burning of a 74 (seventy-four) year old woman in a wheelchair…” is not funny at all.
The scandalous publication with my picture displayed with impunity is a serious defamation of character. Should I be identified with such a crime by my own mother? At this age and stage of my life—a proud father of three, happily married. Those who know me and have related to me socially, professionally, religiously, etc., can testify that I am not given to crime, especially of that nature.
I shall also exonerate my cousin Ikenna Anene from the scandals. He came from Onitsha, his base, that Sunday on hearing about it. How would you relate an event that happened the previous day and the presence of a relation that arrived at the scene a day after? And this is a man who must be there as head of a branch of the Anene dynasty. Responsibility compelled him to witness the burial of a wife of his uncle, to stand for and support his cousins, and share the sorrow with them at the critical time. Is he guilty as presumed?
What offense has Uzochkwu Okeke committed? An employer of labor whose staff were coming one after another to see him among those detained in Abagana Police Station. Mr. Okeke’s late mother was an elder sister to the deceased. So his presence there was not trespassing or interloping. He is the one who has been managing certain affairs in the family. I don’t know much about the girl Chinenye Ekwenugo except that she is from Ifitedunu, whose ‘husband,’ Ifeanyi Igwe, the alleged principal in the crime, is from Ebonyi State. It is said that her mother was from Amaene village of Abagana.
Let me thank God Almighty, who never ceases to answer my prayers. I thank my wife for her sacrifice, sleepless nights she kept awake ‘disturbing’ God to attend to supplications. Then my star children swore that their dad was one hundred percent innocent.
Let me also tell those Abagana sons, daughters, and wives all over the world who saw and doubted the authenticity of the message and disbelieved the credibility of the source. Many called on the phone to hear my voice. Others came physically to see my face and hear my voice as well. Some sent text messages.
Fellow old boys of OTS, my colleagues in the business of information dissemination, social friends, and business friends. Those who know me know that I am not made of that stuff. To continue in the search for the possible culprit, questions must be asked and answers thoroughly examined.
Those who seek to know the truth or already know the truth and felt some pain from the malicious report had reached me. For more clarification, I can be reached at 08035667591. Fidel Ozugha, Publisher, NationGuard News.
