Frustratingly, DSS denies knowledge of the 19-year-old arrested since July – Sister

Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Blessing Chukwuka. I am from Enugu state. I am 28 years old. We are six children in the family and I am the firstborn. My father is dead and it’s like my mother who takes care of us. My brother, Samuel Chukwuka, is a 19-year-old student at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. He is in his second year. He is the second to last (fifth) child.

When was the last time you heard from your brother, Samuel?

He traveled back to school from Enugu to Anambra in the second week of July 2022, for his second semester exams, at UNIZIK. After a week or two, when we didn’t hear from him, we started calling his line to see how he was, but his phone number wouldn’t connect. So we contacted some of his friends at school and they said they had seen him at school during one of their exams or something. So we felt like he just stayed away from his phone so he could focus on his exams, assuming he would always contact us when he was free.

Did he?

No, he never did. We kept calling his phone number but got no answer. His friends were also incommunicado.

What did you do after that?

We started to panic. We were planning to send someone to UNIZIK to look for him when we received a call from an unknown caller saying my brother was at the Nnewi Central Vigilante office. The person sounded very urgent and told us to come right away.

Did you go there?

My younger sister, who is the second child, went to Nnewi to meet them. When she inquired about Samuel’s whereabouts, they said he had been turned over to a Department of State Services officer. They also claimed that my brother was about to be harassed by an angry mob when they rescued him and handed him over to the DSS.

What was his offense?

I do not know. The vigilantes told my sister that people claimed that he came with some of his friends with plans to kill someone, but they failed because the person raised the alarm and attracted a mob. His friends escaped, but they caught him and nearly killed him before the vigilantes rescued him. I do not believe that. Do you believe that story at all? My 19-year-old brother, who was taking exams in UNIZIK, couldn’t be in Nnewi at the same time to kill someone. We asked them how to find the DSS officer they handed him over to, but they told us to come back with a lawyer, which we did. They gave us the DSS officer’s phone number and that’s where the endless journey began. We spoke to the DSS officer and he said he was already in Abuja but all the people the Nnewi vigilantes handed over to him had been dropped at the DSS office in Nnewi. He said he was not with anyone and we should go there and look for him (Samuel).

What happened when you got to the DSS office?

They said that they had no one with that name and that there was no record of such a person. We went with his pictures, his name, ID card, everything, but they kept saying they had no record of such a person in their facility. Frankly, it’s confusing. How can the DSS officer say he dropped off the boys handed over to him at the office and the office says they have no criminal record? There’s something strange, and someone isn’t telling us the truth, and it’s unfair. The person involved in this is a young boy who is just trying to get an education. Whatever his offense, we need to know where he is. They shouldn’t hide him from his family or the world.

Did you go back to the vigilantes to let them know about this?

Yes, we did, and they told us that if the DSS say they have no idea of ​​Samuel’s whereabouts, they must have done something they are not proud of, and they (vigilantes) cannot take responsibility.

Have you contacted the relevant DSS officer again to inform them of this development?

Of course we did. But he said that he left the boys in the office in Nnewi and that he (Samuel) could not have just disappeared. He sounded very emphatic that my brother was in their Nnewi office.

What other measures did you take to find him?

We went to prisons to look for him. Almost all police stations in Nnewi and beyond know our faces because we went from one station to another handing over his pictures and giving them information. None of them seem to know anything about his whereabouts, which is frustrating. We have gone to other DSS offices around the state. We even went to the defunct office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad to look for him, but to no avail. In the end nothing came out.

Have you submitted a petition to the Director General of DSS?

People have told us to do that, but the lawyer thinks otherwise. He said we did not record the conversation we had with the DSS officer and with the vigilante and they can deny knowing anything about the incident.

But have you reported this to the police?

Yes, we reported the matter to Awka Police Headquarters, but they did nothing about the matter.

What can you say about the claim that Samuel was involved in a botched murder?

My brother is not that kind of person. He’s just a teenager. I’m nine years older than that boy, and he’s the sweetest soul ever. He can’t do things like that that they say he did. Personally, I don’t think he’s that kind of person. Their accusations are baseless. But the main point is, even if he’s guilty, don’t we have a right to see him? Is he not entitled to a fair trial? Why wasn’t he taken to court? Is it the job of the DSS to keep criminals in a cell and not let them in? We are talking about a 19 year old student here.

Whatever the vigilantes say, it’s baseless. They should try him in court and let us see him. This whole thing is frustrating. My mother has not slept well for the past five months and they are frustrating our efforts. It is not good. Where is his statement confessing to the crime?

Have you been saying since July 2022 that you haven’t seen your brother?

We have not heard or seen anything from him. The same day he left for school, he called to tell us that he had arrived at school. That was the last thing he spoke to us.

Have you contacted the school authorities?

They are aware of the matter.

How does your mother feel about all this?

She is overwhelmed. My father passed away a long time ago and she has been taking care of us ever since. It’s just frustrating for her to see this happen to her son, a 19 year old boy, who is supposed to be in school. She doesn’t even eat. She just went from one house of prayer to another. The pastors and prophets have reassured my mother that he is alive and will be back, but the DSS frustrates us. The officer is uncooperative and we don’t know what happened to him. Everyone is just so scared.

What is your plea in this matter?

We implore the Director General of DSS, the Inspector General of Police and all human rights activists and lawyers to step into this case and save my family from this impending doom. We don’t want our brother to die. It will break my mother. They just have to show us where they’re holding him. We want to see him. We want to feel him and then continue his case to free him. He’s innocent.