Suspects in the 2009 kidnap of Lotachukwu (Lota) Ezeudu, a 2nd year student of accountancy at the University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) will face accelerated hearing beginning from January 15, 2014. The suspects include a former police officer, Ernest Okeke, the son of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Nnaemeka Chukwu, a former university student named Uche Moses Amajor whose father owned Prosper Hotel in Trans-Ekulu, Enugu.
Suspects in the 2009 kidnap of Lotachukwu (Lota) Ezeudu, a 2nd year student of accountancy at the University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) will face accelerated hearing beginning from January 15, 2014. The suspects include a former police officer, Ernest Okeke, the son of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Nnaemeka Chukwu, a former university student named Uche Moses Amajor whose father owned Prosper Hotel in Trans-Ekulu, Enugu.
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At a recent court session, Justice Afam Nwobodo of the Enugu High Court expressed his desire to schedule several dates from mid-January of next year in order to see the trial to a conclusion.
Lota Ezeudu was abducted in September, 2009 after he told his parents that he was going to the home of DPO Sam Chukwu. A family source told SaharaReporters that the DPO’s son, Nnaemeka, had invited the then 19-year-old Lota over ostensibly to help inspect a laptop computer that the DPO’s alleged personal assistant wished to purchase. Prosecutors believe that the invitation to inspect a computer was a ruse meant to entrap Lota Ezeudu.
Lota was an only son of Bona Ezeudu, a prominent Nigerian painter and sculptor, and his wife, Ngozi, a school teacher. Even though the kidnap victim’s family reportedly paid a ransom, Lota has not been seen since.
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DPO Sam Chukwu and an ex-police officer, Desmond Chinwuba, have been declared wanted as suspects in Lota Ezeudu’s kidnap and disappearance. Both men have been on the run, but friends and relatives of the Ezeudus say they are willing to offer a financial reward to anybody who provides information that would lead to the arrest of the two fugitives. “We plead with anybody who knows the whereabouts of Sam Chukwu and Desmond Chinwuba to please, please give the information to the police or prosecutors at the Ministry of Justice in Enugu,” a friend of the Ezeudus told SaharaReporters.
A prosecutor in Enugu State told SaharaReporters that Mr. Chukwu had a reputation as a highly evil police officer and mastermind of kidnapping and other crimes in the city of Enugu as well as its surrounding towns. Mr. Chukwu owns several buildings in Enugu, especially in the Trans-Ekulu section where he lived with his third wife, Linda Chukwu, before he went underground as the trial judge neared issuing a warrant for his arrest. Mrs. Chukwu is a lawyer and works for the Ministry of Justice in Enugu State.
At the time of Lota’s kidnap, the DPO was harboring both Ernest Okeke and Desmond Chinwuba in his house despite the fact that both men had been sacked from the police and were facing trial for armed robbery. A source close to the Ezeudu family told SaharaReporters that the DPO’s son, Nnaemeka, misled Lota Ezeudu into believing that Ernest and Desmond were still serving police officers who were the DPO’s aides.
A source at the Enugu Ministry of Justice told SaharaReporters that investigators believe that the DPO’s wife, Linda Chukwu, is in regular touch with her fugitive husband. According to the source, “Linda recently gave birth to a baby son, and has been telling people that her husband got her pregnant. And since the man has been on the run for two years, it means that she knows where he is. It is a real shame that Mrs. Linda Chukwu who is a lawyer and works for this same Ministry [of Justice] is aiding and abetting her husband’s decision to be a fugitive. And it is frightening that a man who was a senior police officer is linked to such a serious crime and yet does not have the courage to appear in court to clear his name.”
A source told SaharaReporters that the former DPO is on the run because Justice Nwobodo, who is presiding over the case, is known for his integrity. “[Sam] Chukwu knows that you can’t talk about bribing the Honorable Justice to miscarry justice. That’s why he has decided not to show his face in court,” he said.
A police officer who was once involved in the investigation of the kidnap case praised Lota’s parents for standing firm and demanding justice for their missing son. He said that both Bona and Ngozi Ezeudu have worked tirelessly to help prosecutors to identify and arrest those who had a hand in kidnapping their son. “If other parents can do even a quarter [of what the Ezeudus have done], kidnappers and those who sponsor them will think twice,” the officer said.
Our correspondent in Enugu disclosed that Bona Ezeudu has resumed his artistic work after three years of giving it up in order to focus on helping the police to track down his son’s kidnappers. Earlier this year, he held a solo exhibition at the famous Didi Museum in Lagos, the first exhibit of his paintings since his son was kidnapped. Three weeks ago, he traveled to Seoul as part of a team of artists that represented Nigeria at an international exhibit in the South Korean capital.
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