The Due Process Advocates Foundation (DPA) addresses members after a court hearing.
5 min read
By. Dr. Johnson Greg
“There was one thing that got DPA into Chacha’s case. We wanted to know the truth of what happened to Chacha. We wanted to show the world that a woman having problems with her husband could not just be killed without questions asked….We wanted to assure every woman that her life cannot be taken away without questions asked. We wanted to assure every father, every mother that their daughter could not be killed for fun. We wanted to assure every person in Nigeria that their friend, their sister, their cousin could not just be killed and the matter will be swept under the carpet. ”
In less than twenty-four hours after another day in court in the Nigeria’s phoney trial of Barrister Emeka Ugwuonye, Founder of DPA, for murder, armed robbery and a slew of other fabricated charges calculated to silence the group, the organization addressed its members.
At the heart of the address, the organization reminded members of the objectives of the group in the following words:
“There was one thing that got DPA into Chacha’s case. We wanted to know the truth of what happened to Chacha. We wanted to show the world that a woman having problems with her husband could not just be killed without questions asked. DPA wanted a different society than what we have in Nigeria. We wanted to assure every woman that her life cannot be taken away without questions asked. We wanted to assure every father, every mother that their daughter could not be killed for fun. We wanted to assure every person in Nigeria that their friend, their sister, their cousin could not just be killed and the matter will be swept under the carpet. Emeka Ugwuonye, the Founder of DPA, is determined to pay whatever the price to give Nigerians, through DPA, a society where human life will worth something, where some bad people cannot just snuff off a life so casually and with impunity”
Full Address:
VERY IMPORTANT THINGS THAT CAME OUT IN YESTERDAY’S TRIAL ON EMEKA UGWUONYE’S CASE.
Three very important things came out yesterday during the hearing on Emeka Ugwuonye’s case
First, the cross-examination of ASP Ameh clearly showed that David Aiyedegbon’s involvement in the death of his wife, Chacha, remains at the heart of this case. David has done a lot in four years to escape responsibility and suspicion. He paid the police. He provided them logistics. He settled every officer he could to sweep his involvement under the carpet.
He conspired with everybody he could to attack Emeka Ugwuonye and DPA. David Aiyedegbon sponsored hostile groups of Facebook users to form groups and attack and troll Emeka Ugwuonye on social media. All that was for the purpose of discrediting Emeka Ugwuonye and enabling David Aiyedegbon to escape legitimate suspicion of killing Chacha.
When the police were ready to go all the way to persecute Emeka Ugwuonye by falsely charging him with crimes they knew he could not have committed, David thought he had succeeded. He thought he could breath easy. But far from it. His role in what happened to Chacha could not be erased easily.
Yesterday’s hearing showed that again. Focus was on the fact that Chacha was on social media telling the world that David was planning to kill her just before she was killed, and the ‘incompetent and conniving’ police failed to protect her or to notice her cries. Also, the questions were about the fact that Chacha had pending lawsuits against David over properties at the time she was killed and David would have lost those cases unless Chacha was killed. When David was asked questions on this, he fumbled badly. And when the police witness was asked questions on this yesterday, he simply couldn’t answer them.
The police told the court that he wasn’t aware that Chacha had any pending cases against David. And there were six such cases. That was when the defense lawyer put it to him that the police were incompetent. The important thing here is that despite all he did to cover up any role he played in the death of Chacha, that remained the heart and soul of this case. DPA will not allow David and his police friends to cover up the truth of what happened to Chacha. Indeed, these trials are revealing the truth and the truth is putting David in the center of what happened. So, it appears that David is achieving the opposite of his objective. His effort in paying the police to suppress the truth has been counterproductive. It failed woefully.
Second thing that came out was that Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Moshood, former police PRO, was one of those that conspired to falsely charge Emeka Ugwuonye with the crimes they knew he did not commit. If you remembered, around 18th October 2018, totally embarrassed and shocked by the audacious DPA documentary which revealed the atrocities committed by the Nigerian police in their detention camp, Moshood, who felt it was his duty to launder the badly damaged image of the police, made a post on Facebook alleging falsely, of course, that Emeka was a convicted criminal. Emeka thereupon sent a letter to Moshood demanding a retraction of such falsehood within 24 hours. Apparently, to avoid the consequences of a lawsuit, Moshood conspired with James Idachaba and others to get Emeka out of the way by charging him with murder he couldn’t ever have committed.
So, ASP Ameh, while in the witness box, confirmed that Jimoh Moshood was one of the brains behind the plot to falsely charge Emeka with murder. OK, where is Moshood today? He was transfered out of Abuja probably as punishment for misconduct.
We must always remember that these are people who are reputed to use assassinations to settle scores. In Emeka’s case, they used false charges to do it.
Third thing that has happened: The voice of DPA cannot be silenced. DPA is beyond one man. David Aiyedegbon and his police protectors have failed to understand that DPA is bigger than its Founder. Detaining the Founder will not be enough to silence DPA.
There was one thing that got DPA into Chacha’s case. We wanted to know the truth of what happened to Chacha. We wanted to show the world that a woman having problems with her husband could not just be killed without questions asked. DPA wanted a different society than what we have in Nigeria. We wanted to assure every woman that her life cannot be taken away without questions asked. We wanted to assure every father, every mother that their daughter could not be killed for fun. We wanted to assure every person in Nigeria that their friend, their sister, their cousin could not just be killed and the matter will be swept under the carpet. Emeka Ugwuonye, the Founder of DPA, is determined to pay whatever the price to give Nigerians, through DPA, a society where human life will worth something, where some bad people cannot just snuff off a life so casually and with impunity.
Every person of good conscience should understand the importance of this case and our struggle. All hands must join in the fight. It is not Emeka’s fight. It is our fight. It is something that involves all of us. And we shall throw in our support.
