Three-month old baby, mother detained in SARS cell for months

Four months after she was arrested, a nursing mother is still in the cells of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos State.
The lady, Chigozie, was arrested at her home in Ajah area, after her husband was killed in a gun battle with policemen.
Chigozie’s husband was one of the kidnappers, who allegedly kidnapped the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area boss, Kehinde Bamigbetan, and a Federal High Court Judge.
After her husband, a half-caste, simply as identified as China, was killed, police had gone to her home and arrested her, her baby, who was then just three months old, and China’s younger sister.
She was dragged and presented with seven corpses of the alleged kidnappers the police killed at Agbara area of the state.
She identified the corpse of her husband and was detained with her baby.
Four months after, Chigozie and her baby are still being held at SARS.
A source revealed that the woman had repeatedly told the police that she knew nothing about her late husband being a kidnapper, but the police still continued to detain her and her baby.
Chigoze explained to the police that she was in Ghana and was supposed to manage her husband’s hotel business when the man suddenly called her to come down to Nigeria with the kids that they would be travelling out.
She was at their home, at Ajah, waiting for him, when police came to arrest her.
But police said she was lying.
The police also arrested her father and four-year-old daughter, but later released both.
Sick and tired of being incarcerated and breastfeeding her baby inside the cell, Chigozie has taken to crying every day, begging the police to charge her to court.
She is also worried about her other children, whom she had not seen.
Speaking on the issue, the Deputy Police spokesman, Ozoani Damasus, said that Chigozie was still being held because of ongoing investigations and because she allegedly confessed to having three pistols in her possession, which are in Ghana.
Damasus added: “The woman’s husband is the popular China, who masterminded the kidnap of the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area boss, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, and a Federal High Court Judge. He was also responsible for many robberies, which involved destruction of ATM. Right now, police have written to INTERPOL, so that they can go to Ghana and access her home and recovered the guns. We will charge her to court after that.”
While police are waiting for INTERPOL to acknowledge their letter, Chigozie, her baby and sister-in-law continue to languish in detention.
But a source said: “It is not true. Nobody is waiting for their anything from INTERPOL. A team of SARS men had already visited Ghana, accompanied by Chigozie and they found nothing. Why she’s still being detained with her baby and husband’s younger sister is a mystery.”