NHRC probes death of MOD protocol officer in EFCC cell

Abuja—In a bid to determine what killed a Ministry of Defence official in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, last June, the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has launched a probe into the sudden death of the inmate.

 As a prelude to uncovering the cause of the sudden demise of Desmond Nunugwo, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof Bem Angwe, on Monday led some officials to inspect the EFCC detention facility where the protocol officer died on June 9, 2016. Vanguard learned from competent sources that the visit of the NHRC executive secretary to the EFCC detention facility took Ibrahim Magu, the commission’s boss and his officials by surprise. 

“They did not inform us that the chairman of the NHRC was coming but we just saw him and we had to open our facility, which is built and operated in accordance with international best practices, to the team. “But as an agency whose operations are guided by law, we flung the doors for the NHRC team to inspect because we have nothing to hide,” an EFCC official said.

 A credible source confirmed to Vanguard that Prof Angwe was at the EFCC to inspect its detention facility as part of the effort to establish what killed the officer but declined to give further details. Nunugwo, a former Chief Protocol Officer with the Ministry of Defence, was arrested by some officers of the Intelligence and Special Operations Section, ISOS, of the EFCC on June 9 at about 5.30pm for defrauding one Oleh Nnanna Kalu of N63.6 million.

 His untimely death has triggered accusations and petitions to the Attorney-General of the Federation, the National Assembly and Amnesty International, calling for probe. Wife of the deceased, Susanne, suspected foul play in her husband’s death and had petitioned the National Human Rights Commission, the Nigeria Police Force, Amnesty International and other civil society groups to probe the death.

 However the EFCC has said that the man died naturally, barely two hours after being taken into detention. “The EFCC in the early hours of June 10, 2016 released an official statement through its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, announcing the tragic incident, while also informing that the matter had been formally reported to the Nigeria Police which is the relevant agency to investigate matters such as the unfortunate death of Citizen Nunugwo.

 “While the nation awaits the outcome of the Police investigation which should include the autopsy report, the family of the deceased suspect appears to have lost their patience with the Police investigation and is pre-empting its outcome with all manner of insinuations.

 “It is important to clarify that the deceased’s position as a civil servant had no bearing on the facts of the case. He was not accused of defrauding the Nigerian government. “Rather, what brought Nunugwo to the EFCC was the allegation that he tricked an acquaintance of his, Ole Nnanna Kalu to pay N94 million into the nominated account of some purported business associates based in Dubai, ostensibly to help Kalu import stockfish.

 However, once the payment was effected, Kalu said Nunugwo became evasive,” the EFCC said.