Mrs Ada Jumbo, widow of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel, Jumbo Ogah, who died on March 20, after an altercation with some personnel of the Nigeria Police Force at Nyanya in the Federal Capital Territory (FTC) speaks to PAUL OKAH, on the horrifying experience and difficulty living without her husband.
How it happened
On Wednesday, March 20, 2019, my husband, a 42-year-old Superintendent of the NSCDC, was taking me and our two sons to school at Glory International School, Karu, Abuja, when he was accosted by a traffic warden at Nyanya. I teach in my children’s school and he always takes us to school.
We left the house in New Nyanya, Nasarawa state, by 6:30am but encountered traffic build up at Sharp Corner, Mararaba, so we had to divert at Sani Brothers Filling Station at Nyanya, through SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church. We then came out at the VIO office, where there is an intersection of roads, one leading to Keffi-Nyanya and the other to Karu. We passed through Teile Motors and the traffic warden there asked those passing through the Police Station side to stop and asked us to go back.
My husband was about making a U-turn when the traffic warden entered the car, stood in front and told him to stop. He pleaded that he was already late to work and was taking his children and wife to their school first and should be allowed to go.
Altercation with traffic warden
The traffic warden asked why he should allow him to pass, whether he (the traffic warden) was the cause of the traffic congestion. My husband then switched off the engine and pleaded with him to allow him to go since others were turning and then switched on his engine. The traffic warden asked my husband if he wanted to hit him and for him to go ahead and hit him.
He said my husband wanted to hit him because he was a Civil Defence officer. He said it didn’t matter and he didn’t care whether my husband was an officer or not and started hitting the bonnet of our car. I started pleading at that point, but the man opened the driver’s side and told my husband to come out.
I usually sit at the back with our two sons, Emmanuel, 6, and Daniel, 3. So, at this juncture, another traffic warden from the Redeemed Church side crossed over to join the first one and started dragging my husband out. In the process they were hitting him with batons and their fists. I quickly came down from the vehicle with the children and begged them alongside my son, Emmanuel, to stop.
Unheeded pleas
A woman was begging the traffic warden too by shouting “Idoko ojei” which means “it is enough” in my dialect. I realised that the traffic warden was from my tribe and I told him that he was fighting against his brother from the same tribe and that he should please wait for us to settle things especially as my husband was a uniformed person like him. But he asked me: “Civil Defence, that one na work?” They continued beating him and dragged him to the station.
I followed them to the station at Nyanya Area F. They forced my husband to sit on a plastic chair. One of the police officers, who had just finished their night duty and were about to go home so were on mufti asked my husband: “Who is fighting my boys that I put on the road?” He said that Civil Defence people are stubborn and want to collect their job.
As they were talking, many of them were just hitting my husband on the head. Anyone that just comes would hit my husband on the head. All these beatings were happening in front of my children, with Emmanuel begging them not to kill his father.
As they were beating and pushing him, he fell from the chair and collapsed on the floor. I went to him and asked him to give me his car keys so that I can call someone to take him to the hospital, but he didn’t respond. One of them asked me if my husband smokes or drinks, I said no. He told me to ask him to stand up and beg them otherwise they will pull his uniform. They asked me which local government he comes from and I told them Otukpo. He said that Idoko is from Otukpo too. He asked the traffic wardens to go and treat themselves if they have injuries or for them to go and resume their duties if they were not injured. They left my husband on the floor.
DPO arrives
One of them told me that our vehicle was blocking the road and asked if I can drive, but I said I couldn’t. He requested for the keys and retrieved it from my husband’s pocket and gave to him. He went with another police officer and brought the car to the station. My husband was still lying on the floor, while the policemen waited for the DPO.
When the DPO came in, the policemen said I should go and beg him that he is the boss. I asked them to take my husband to the hospital that I didn’t like what I was seeing with him lying on the floor. But the DPO said that he was just pretending by lying on the floor and for the officers to bring a needle for him to use on my husband to see how long he would pretend. One of them started pushing my husband and telling him “Aboki stand up”. I told him that my husband is not aboki and also not a small boy but a senior officer.
I used my phone to call one of his friends and told him that my husband was lying lifeless in the police station. I was interrupted by one of the police officers who said that my husband was not lying lifeless and was just pretending. It was several minutes later that the DPO instructed that my husband to be taken to a hospital.
Journey to the hospital
When they called one of the policemen to take my husband to the hospital, he said that there was no fuel in the van. The DPO instructed for another van to be brought and six policemen and the two traffic wardens carried my husband to the van. My children and I went to sit in front of the van, but they told us to come down that my husband will be fine. One of them even asked me to take my children to school, but I said there was no need and that I would go back home if they freed my husband. They left with my husband to Nyanya General Hospital without me, our children or relatives going with them.
My dad, my husband’s friend, Vincent, and my husband’s younger sister joined me at the police station. I narrated what happened to them and demanded to see my husband. When a policeman eventually agreed for us to go to Nyanya General Hospital, I took my children along with me to his car. Vincent had left earlier for the hospital, but came back shaking his head sadly. It was at that point that it dawned on me that something was wrong and I started crying. However, the people around me said that nothing was wrong with my husband and that he had been transferred to Wuse General Hospital. I asked why he should be taken to Wuse but I didn’t get any explanation.
The wait
The policeman left with us. We drove against traffic from Kugbo to AYA and made for Asokoro. My sister-in-law asked him why he was taking us to Asokoro instead of Wuse and he said he wanted to make an inquiry. He then called the policemen in the van that had left with my husband and asked if they were going to Wuse. They said no that they were going to Asokoro.
We arrived at Asokoro General Hospital before them, because we drove against traffic, though they left Nyanya General Hospital before us. I was praying for God not to make me an untimely widow when the policemen came with the body of my husband.
I was told that the doctors at Nyanya General Hospital rejected my husband because he didn’t have a medical card before they brought him to Asokoro where the doctor confirmed him dead. They told the doctor that they picked my husband from the floor. The policemen didn’t know that we were around because they told us to go to Wuse so that they can just come to Asokoro, lie, drop my husband and go away.
When my sister-in-law and I went to the doctor to inquire what was happening. He asked who we were and my sister-in-law introduced us. The doctor asked what happened and she said that he was beaten by the police.
The doctor then revealed that the police told him that my husband was picked from the floor. My husband died at the police station before he was taken to the hospital. This is because even when the six police officers were taken him to the police station, they were arranging him. He lay on the floor of the police station for more than an hour. Even when I was begging the officers to take him to the hospital, they refused.
Drama at the mortuary
The police wanted to take my husband’s corpse to the mortuary, but my sister-in-law refused and called her husband, who is also a Civil Defence officer. He called others around the hospital and they started coming. The police also started calling their colleagues and they came. Television stations like AIT and NTA were also called.
The police parked their vehicle at the Asokoro hospital and asked me to sign so that my husband can be taken to the mortuary, but I told them that I will not sign anything. We left his body in the police van.
A police AIG came in as I was granting a media interview and spoke with him before leaving hospital. I left the hospital with my two children with my husband’s body lying in the police van. That was the last time I have set eyes on him. I was later told that my husband’s corpse was taken to Maitama General Hospital mortuary, that there was no space in Asokoro.
Government overtures
The same DPO at Nyanya Police Station in Area F, that said that my husband was pretending and for him to be given a needle to use on him, came to our house with a lady he claimed to be in charge of homicide days after the incident. He told me to take heart that the deed has been done and my husband’s corpse should rest in peace. The people around did not entertain such a statement and he literally ran into his vehicle.
Other than the two no other people from the police have bothered to visit us. The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, paid us a condolence visit on Monday last week and promised to see the IGP on the incident. The Civil Defence have visited about three times.
I learnt that the police went to pay a condolence visit on the Civil Defence office but they have not come to my house. The Commandment of the Civil Defence has come, the CG delegated some people to come and the officers at the Sharia Court, where my husband was covering, have come too.
The IPO of police was here on Monday last week to take my statement. He interviewed Emmanuel, who told him about how it happened.
Lies/cover up
I have watched a video clip of police spokesmen, Frank Mba, talking about what he was told about the death of my husband. He said that my husband drove himself to the station and slumped at the station. But it is a very big lie. Even now, house keys, the key to the vehicle and the vehicle itself is with the police. They collected them from me when I told them I could not drive as they said our car was obstructing traffic, with my husband lying on the floor.
Quest for justice
I need justice for my husband. I need justice. I need justice. As I am, I am not doing any good job to cater for my children. My husband had better plans for his children. I need justice or let government give me back my husband in one piece.
An autopsy was conducted on him on Tuesday last week and we are awaiting the result. It was conducted in the presence of the police doctor, Civil Defence doctor and our family doctor. The result of the autopsy will determine our next course, as advised by my family lawyer.
Widowhood
It has not been funny living without my husband. I have not been myself. My husband was a soulmate and a friend I always confided in. There are many things I will miss about him. For instance, my salary is not steady, so we were surviving on his salary.
Surviving with two little children is difficult for me. I am missing him greatly. He would wake by 5am to prepare water for us to bathe and prepare for him to drop us off at school. So, right now, once it is 5am, I would wake up. Even Emmanuel has been asking me when his daddy will come back and I told him his daddy will not come back again. Daniel is yet to start speaking.
