For almost two years now, we have followed up with deep concern the sad news of the kidnap of our brother in-law, Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Udemba, which took place on March 21, 2012 at Nkwelle Ezunaka, Anambra State.
Regrettably, important-personnel inaccessibility at your exalted office, our longstanding experience of lengthy, frustrating, and unreliable bureaucratic process, coupled with apparent investigational reluctance of the Anambra State Police Command have compelled us to make this appeal public.
While family and relations are still gasping to recover from, as much as understand, this unfortunate incident that took place at Nkwelle Ezunaka area close to Onitsha, Anambra State, we are still worried that little or no attempts have been made by the Anambra State Police Command to investigate Udemba’s kidnap.
Developments regarding the willingness and readiness of the Anambra State Police Command to investigate his kidnap have, for some time now, remained disturbingly controversial and suspect at best. Sir, we are still in shock that even as the name of a major person of interest in his kidnap was provided to the Nigerian Police with copies forwarded to the former Anambra State Police Commissioner, Ballah Nasarawa, neither has any arrest been made nor has any investigation situation report provided to the long-suffering family of Udemba. Sir, you would need to imagine for a moment, the level of psychological and emotional trauma to which the wife and children of Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Udemba have been subjected for almost two years now.
It is expedient to mention that at some point, letters of complaint and appeal were directly addressed and dispatched by this party to President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State. Given the gravity of this matter, those letters were registered and delivered by courier but neither a reply nor a response has come forth.
Moreover, countless efforts made to reach those two important offices for help were unsuccessful and access impossible. Sir, besides the Presidency and the Governor of Anambra State, we are hereby appealing to you, in particular, and to all Nigerians, in general, to come to our assistance and possibly suggest ways to help all of us come out of this quagmire with the result of investigations on all those involved, in any way or associated with his kidnap, publicized.
We firmly believe that the family, his relations and friends have the right to an honest, helpful and transparent investigation result from the police at this very challenging time. At this juncture, we solicit your urgent assistance and that of all well-meaning Nigerians.
While we do appreciate some positive changes that have taken place in the Police Force as evident in many states and in some of the states around Anambra State, at the same time we restate our unwavering conviction that an entire town, family and relations of Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Udemba, both as loyal citizens of Nigeria and human beings with inalienable rights, deserve a meaningful closure to this ugly incident.
With this heartfelt appeal, we passionately plead for your very considerate and expeditious intervention.
Sir Joe.C. Anemelu,
[email protected]
