Man accuses Lagos police officers of causing the death of his six weeks pregnant wife

 

A widower named Solomon Wilfred has accused the Lagos state police command of causing the death of his six weeks pregnant wife, Vivienne, on March 16th.

Solomon who just got married to Vivienne in December last year, said his wife was arrested at the Apena market on March 15th over allegations of kidnapping a teenage girl. A woman identified as Chinwendu Udomadu had accosted the deceased with claims that the little girl she came to the market with, Perpetual Ucheweaku was one Osinachi Udomadu, her daughter, who had been missing since 2014.

The deceased denied the claims, stating that she was the guardian of the teenage girl and that she also knows the teenage girls parents. After much argument, police officers at the market arrested the women and took them to the station.

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Akinpelu was said to have transferred the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) at Panti, Yaba, claiming that it was a criminal case which could not be handled at his station.

Solomon said his wife was detained in a cell while he wrote a statement. He said he begged to swap places with her since she was pregnant and “suffers stress induced seizures”.

“I told them she was pregnant and sick. I told them she had stress induced seizures, and I went upstairs to write the statement for me to swap places with her. But when I came back, they had thrown her into the cell. I even thought they put her behind the counter to wait for me to write the statement, but she was in the cell. Then I told them to release her because I already told them she was not feeling fine” he said.

Solomon said his wife died shortly after she was released the next day March 16th.

However the Lagos state police spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, has denied his claim. According to Badmos, the deceased was never put in any cell.

"She was never put in the cell and she was released by the ACP SCID immediately her husband said she was six weeks pregnant and has health challenges. The ACP later called and told me that she has been informed the woman fainted at home and was rushed to the hospital where she passed on,” she said.

Badmos added that the the teenage girl and her alleged mother are to be subjected to a DNA test

“The police did nothing wrong in the matter. The suspects (Chinwendu and Chinemerem Udomadu) have been charged to court and the result of the DNA test is still being awaited.”she said