Kelechi Ezeonu

2010

Onitsha, Anambra State

According to Kelechi’s father, Mr. Joseph Ezeonu, his son, Kelechi, 15, was arrested by the Nigerian police in their home in Onitsha where they lived. The arrest, according to the police, was related to an allegation that Kelechi and one Osondu Nwankwo were involved in armed robbery. And the police handed him over to members of the Special Anti Robbery Squad. 

According to Mr. Ezeonu, the day of his son’s arrest in 2010 was the last day he had set his eyes on him. After his son was arrested, Mr. Ezeonu and his family embarked on what became an expedition to all the police facilities in Anambra State. And none of the facilities admitted knowledge of his son’s whereabouts. This was until the Inspector General of Police (IGP) eventually admitted that the police had killed Kelechi. 

According to Mr. Ezeonu, his son was arrested at home in Onitsha. The letter from the IGP of police stated that Kelechi was wounded in a crossfire and later rushed to the hospital and certified dead on 11th August 2010, almost three months after he had been arrested. 

Eventually, they asked for Kelechi’s body and that, too, was nowhere to be found. The police stubbornly refused to release Kelechi’s body to his family. And later they discovered that SARS operatives had dissolved Kelechi’s body in acid. Also the police has failed to mention anything about the exact location where the shootout occurred, the hospital where Kelechi died, or even the doctor who pronounced him dead. And until now, the police officers responsible for his arrest and disappearance are yet to be identified.