Stella Ifeoma Abugu

2020

Stella Ifeoma Abugu had her introduction in September 2020 and was looking forward to her wedding in December. The 28-year-old entrepreneur had moved to Abuja after completing her youth service to take advantage of its better economic opportunities. It was here she met her fiancé, Afam.

Stella’s mother, Mary, describes her as loving and caring. Stella was passionate about schooling and had partially sponsored herself through tertiary school. Mary remembers being excited by the prospect of her daughter’s marriage.

Four days after Stella’s introduction, SARS operatives arrested her at her fiancé’s residence in Lokogoma, Abuja. They had come in search of Afam but carted her away instead. By morning the following day, she was dead.

Her fiancé was not home when she was taken. The last time he saw her alive, she had just finished cooking for him and her friend. Stella’s friend left after eating and he followed suit later. Shortly after leaving, he received a call that SARS officers had arrested Stella. His efforts to find out where she was taken were unsuccessful. The next day, he was informed that SARS had left her body in a morgue.

The police said Stella was likely already dead when they found her in his house, but they did not know this yet. So they took her to the hospital, where she was confirmed dead, possibly from a cocaine overdose. Eyewitness accounts and the autopsy report tell a different story.

Neighbours said Stella was alive and kicking when SARS operatives arrested her. The results of the autopsy also show that Stella was raped and strangled to death.

Despite the publicity Stella’s case received, justice has not been meted out to her killers. Her brother, Alex, says the officers responsible were detained but let go “after a day or two in detention.”