I’ve Been Searching for My Husband for 9 Years Since the Police Took Him

On June 15 2017, Nnenna John-Anozie’s husband, Chukwuemeka John Anozie, was taken from their home in Lekki, Lagos, by armed men she later identified as officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Awkuzu, Anambra State. He was never brought before a court, and Nnenna says she has not seen or heard from him since.

Over the past nine years, she has approached the courts, petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, testified before the #EndSARS Judicial Panel of Inquiry and pursued investigations into her husband’s disappearance. She says the police later claimed he had died in custody, but his body was never produced.

This is her story, as told to Babatunde.

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The morning my husband was taken

On June 15 2017, at about 7:50 a.m., five armed men invaded our home in Lekki, Lagos. I’d later learn they were officers from SARS Awkuzu in Anambra State.

They had been waiting outside our gate for someone to open it so they could enter the compound. So, when they saw my husband driving out to take our children to school, they stopped him at the gate and ordered him to reverse his vehicle. As soon as he did, they forced their way into the compound and demanded to be shown our apartment.

With a gun to his head, my husband led three of the men into our bedroom while the others remained outside. They searched the room, turning everything upside down.

They found his briefcase in the wardrobe, containing money, educational and professional certificates, international passports, our children’s original birth certificates, family photographs and other important personal documents. Their team leader, Anthony Obiozor Ikechukwu, took the briefcase and handed it to another officer Emeana Uzochukwu.

Everything was happening so quickly. I was frightened for my children and wanted to get them away from the scene, so I tried calling a friend who could come and take them. But Anthony pointed his gun at me and threatened to shoot if I didn’t hand him my phone.

My phone wasn’t the only one he took; he snatched my children’s phones, our maid’s phone and every other phone he found in the bedroom, including faulty ones.

They took two of our vehicles, a Lexus and a Ford SUV. We had an Infiniti Q45 also parked in the compound, but its key was on a key ring inside one of the vehicles they took. They couldn’t take that car because they were in a hurry to carry out whatever their mission was and because they didn’t want people alerted. The Infiniti was eventually damaged by exposure to the elements and had to be disposed of.

They operated like armed robbers. They didn’t operate like police officers. We never knew they were police officers during the incident.

Before they left with my husband, one of them, Uzochukwu, told me to find someone to manage my husband’s business because I would never see him again.

He also warned me that going to court would be a waste of my time and money. He said nobody in the country, regardless of who they were, could do anything about the matter because not even the court could touch them.

Those words stayed with me. I wondered how an officer could speak with such certainty about his ability to act without consequences.

I contacted my lawyer, explained what had happened and arranged to visit SARS Awkuzu. On our first visit, we met Anthony, who demanded ₦5 million before he would even discuss the matter with me. I did not give him the money. On my third visit, he walked me from his office to the gate and instructed the officers there never to allow me onto the premises again.

They did as he instructed. I tried to visit on other occasions, but I was denied access. I also encountered Sunday Okpe, the Officer-in-Charge of the SARS unit then, but he also didn’t allow me to see my husband.

I have not seen or heard from him since he was taken on June 15, 2017.

Death fears

The police never brought my husband before a court or told me where he was being held. I kept trying to find him, but my efforts were unsuccessful.

On July 3 2017, I filed a fundamental rights case at the High Court of Anambra State, sitting in Ogidi. I wanted the police to produce my husband and explain why he was being held without being charged.

On July 24, 2017, the court ordered the police to charge him before a court if there was a prima facie case against him or release him on bail. Alternatively, the police were to produce him in court and explain why he could not be charged or released.

The Police did neither. Instead, they subsequently claimed that my husband had died in custody. I could not accept that as a sufficient explanation. They had taken him away, denied us access to him and failed to produce him before a court. Now they were saying he was dead without showing us his body or giving us a satisfactory account of what had happened.

On October 20 2017, I returned to court and asked for an order compelling the police to produce his body so that a joint autopsy could be conducted by a government doctor and a doctor appointed by our family. I also asked for the body to be released to us afterwards for a proper burial.

On April 16 2018, the court ordered the police to release his body to our family for burial. But that order was also not obeyed.

I was left with the same questions. If my husband had died, where was his body? What had happened to him? Why couldn’t the police give us a clear account of his death?

I had gone to court because I wanted to know what happened to my husband. Instead, I found myself fighting to get answers from the very institution that had taken him away.

The Police were hiding the officers

After several unsuccessful attempts to resolve the matter in Anambra State, I went to Force Headquarters in Abuja and petitioned the Inspector-General of Police.

The X-Squad unit of the Nigeria Police Force subsequently conducted an investigation. The investigation identified Emeana Uzochukwu and Anthony Obiozor Ikechukwu as principal suspects in connection with my husband’s disappearance.

The investigation also led to the preparation of a legal opinion and charges, which the then Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Anthony Michael Ogbizi, approved in 2020.

Despite these developments, no prosecution followed.

There was another troubling discovery. When I followed up on my husband’s bank account, I found that money had been withdrawn using his ATM card after his disappearance.

On October 9 2020, I was at Force Headquarters to follow up with the legal department. We reviewed his Zenith Bank account statement and noticed several unauthorised withdrawals, including ATM withdrawals.

The withdrawals had begun four days after he was taken. Within a week of his detention, his bank account had been emptied.

I had also learnt that the investigation file containing records of his disappearance and the police’s legal opinion had remained unattended for months.

I met with the officials handling the matter and followed up repeatedly. I wanted the officers identified in the investigation to be charged and the truth about my husband’s whereabouts established. But nothing happened.

I kept asking myself how an investigation could identify suspects, lead to the preparation of charges and still result in no prosecution. I had followed the process, submitted information and waited for the police to act on their own findings. Yet I was still no closer to knowing what had happened to my husband.

Even the #EndSARS Panel could not give me answers

On October 9 2020, I visited the National Human Rights Commission in Abuja and met its chairman, Tony Ojukwu, SAN. I told him what I had been going through and submitted a petition.

The #EndSARS protests later led to the establishment of a judicial panel of inquiry, and I appeared before it in Abuja between 2020 and 2022. I hoped it would finally help me establish what happened to my husband.

The panel issued several orders directing the police to ensure that officers connected to the case appeared before it. These included Sunday Okpe, Anthony Obiozor Ikechukwu, Emeana Uzochukwu and other individuals named in the proceedings.

They repeatedly failed to appear. The proceedings were adjourned at least 12 times over two years to give them opportunities to attend, but none of them appeared before the panel.

The panel also directed the police to produce my husband or explain his whereabouts. It ordered that the belongings taken from our home be produced and that the police produce the case file and related investigation documents. Those orders were not complied with.

The panel repeatedly sought the case file from the then police legal department. Its requests were not met, and the proceedings eventually ended without resolving the central question of what had happened to my husband.

I spent a significant amount of money travelling to Abuja, paying for flights, accommodation and other expenses to attend the proceedings. I did all of this because I believed the panel could help me get answers. But I left without seeing my husband, recovering our belongings or learning what had happened to him.

It was deeply disappointing. I had taken the matter to the panel because I wanted accountability, but the people who could explain what happened did not appear, and the documents needed to move the case forward were not produced.

Nine years of petitions and delays

After the panel concluded its work, I continued to look for ways to move the case forward.

On November 22 2023, a fresh petition was submitted to the Inspector-General of Police through Falana and Falana Chambers. The IGP’s office directed that the matter be reopened for further investigation, including the disappearance of the case file itself.

The matter was assigned to an officer on the IGP Monitoring Team, identified to me as Mr Chinedu.

In January 2024, I was invited to Force Headquarters in Abuja for an interview. I made statements and submitted documents to assist the investigation. I was hopeful that there would finally be progress.

My lawyer followed up repeatedly, asking for the case file and relevant investigation records. At first, there seemed to be movement. But after the officer confirmed that he had traced the file, communication stopped. My lawyer’s calls and messages went unanswered, and the matter became dormant again.

On April 8 2025, through my lawyer, Vincent Adodo, I wrote to the Inspector-General of Police requesting copies of the investigation reports and related documents under the Freedom of Information Act 2011. I asked that the records be released to the Attorney-General of the Federation and me. The police did not grant my request.

By then, I had spent years trying to obtain documents about an investigation conducted by the police themselves. I had approached the courts, petitioned senior police officials and participated in the panel proceedings. Still, I could not get the records that might help establish what happened to my husband. I decided to return to court.

I won a court case, but the Police still didn’t comply

I instituted a case at the Federal High Court in Abuja against the Inspector-General of Police, seeking an order compelling the release of the investigation records and legal opinion concerning my husband’s disappearance.

I also sought an order directing that the officers identified in the investigation be handed over to the Attorney-General of the Federation for prosecution before the appropriate court.

The case was heard by Justice Binta Nyako. Despite being served with the court processes and hearing notices, the police did not appear to defend the case.

On September 24 2025, the court delivered judgment in my favour. It granted the reliefs I sought and awarded me ₦2 million in compensation for the violation of my right to information.

I thought that after eight years of struggling, the judgment would finally open the door to accountability. I hoped the documents would be released and the investigation could progress. I was wrong.

Despite being served with the judgment and the relevant orders, the police did not comply. My lawyer took further steps to enforce the judgment, including serving the IGP with Form 48, a notice warning of the consequences of disobeying a court order, and Form 49, a notice relating to committal proceedings.

Even then, the order remained unimplemented under former Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.

Following the appointment of the new IGP, Olatunji Disu, contempt proceedings were initiated over the continued non-compliance with the judgment.

I had spent years asking for the investigation records. Even after obtaining a court judgment, I was still waiting for the police to obey the order.

The file moved, but my husband is still missing

On July 24 2026, during subsequent court proceedings, my lawyer informed me that the police had filed a Notice of Compliance stating that my husband’s case file and related documents had finally been forwarded to the Attorney-General of the Federation.

After nine years, the file had finally moved. But my husband is still missing.

I have not seen him. I have not heard from him. I still do not know what happened to him, and I have not received the answers I have been seeking since June 2017.

As of my latest update, the forwarding of the file has not resolved the matter. I understand that the Attorney-General’s office has yet to take action on the file reportedly sent to it.

I am still pursuing a case about my missing husband while being denied access to the very records generated by the investigation.

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My children deserve to know what happened to their father

My husband’s disappearance has affected every part of our lives. I have had to shoulder the responsibility of raising our four children and providing for their food, education, housing, medical care and other needs.

The financial burden has been enormous. I have spent millions of naira on legal fees, travel, accommodation and the many visits and follow-ups required to pursue this case. The cost is difficult to quantify because it has continued for years.

I live with constant anxiety and uncertainty. I have experienced chest pains, persistent headaches, sleeplessness and psychological distress. The stress has sent me to the hospital several times.

Our children have also suffered. They have grown up without their father’s presence, guidance and love. They ask questions I cannot answer, and I have had to watch them reach important milestones without knowing whether their father is alive or what happened to him.

Sometimes they cry themselves to sleep. At other times, they sit quietly, trying to understand a situation that no child should have to face.

I try to comfort them, but there is only so much a mother can do. I cannot replace their father, and I cannot give them the answers they deserve when I do not have them myself.

What hurts most is that our suffering seems invisible to the people who should be helping us. The passage of time has not eased the pain, but has deepened it.

My family deserves justice

I continue to believe in the rule of law. The court has delivered judgments in my favour, and I believe those orders should be obeyed. My frustration is not with the idea of justice or the courts themselves. It is with the failure to implement the decisions and follow through on the investigations.

I have done everything I know how to do. I reported what happened, petitioned the authorities, supplied information, attended proceedings and returned to court when the police failed to act. I have followed the processes available to me, even when they have cost me money, time and peace of mind.

I believe the Nigeria Police Force has a responsibility to investigate what happened to my husband, explain how the case was handled, and identify the wrongdoings of their officers. The investigation records, court orders and panel proceedings should not be allowed to disappear.

I want the authorities to establish the truth about my husband’s disappearance, and those found responsible to be held accountable under the law.

Above all, I want my children to have answers about their father. They have lived for nine years without knowing what happened to him. They deserve the truth.

I am still waiting for the police to tell us what happened to Chukwuemeka John Anozie.

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