Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to directly take charge of the investigation of the circumstances surrounding the unexplained death of the wife of the now suspended Chairman of Nnewi North Local Council.

The group said it was approaching the IGP following the possibility that Anambra State Police Command may compromise the required professional and efficient investigation of the case, which has now become a national affair.

In a letter to the IGP titled: “On The Alleged Domestic Violence Related Killing: Our Call For Probe”, HURIWA urged police authority in Anambra State to arrest the suspended Transition Committee Chairman of Nnewi North Local Council, Mbazulike Iloka, for allegedly beating his wife to death.

According to the letter, dated August 15 and signed by HURIWA’s national coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the rights group disclosed that it has no personal interest in the matter other than that the circumstances surrounding the suspicious killing of this lady may never be known given that the police on many occasions muddled up such investigations on a platter of alleged bribes.

The group said the state government must ensure the immediate arrest and prosecution of the local council boss.

HURIWA in the letter stated as follows: “The suspension of Mbazulike Iloka by the state government is not enough. Governor Chukwuma Soludo must order the immediate arrest, investigation and prosecution of this suspected killer. Anything short of this is leniency taken too far.

“Anambra is notorious for domestic and gender-based violence in homes, churches, offices, markets, motor parks, and even in commercial buses. The governor must send a strong warning to the aggressors by publicly shaming the Local Council boss within the ambit of the law. An autopsy must be carried out immediately and the outcome must not be compromised. There must be no cover-ups.

“Recall that another South-Easterner from Imo State, and popular gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, died controversially early 2022 after her husband, Peter Nwachukwu, allegedly battered her, going by the testimonies of the victim’s sisters and children. Just as Peter is currently being prosecuted, Iloka must be tried to serve as strong deterrence to other wife-batterers.

“Anambra must also go beyond domesticating the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPPA) Act, to enforcing it and prosecuting offenders in tandem with its components.

“Anambra must contribute a quota in reducing national statistics of sexual and gender-based violence cases, which the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) put at 1.7 million in 2021 alone, whilst many cases have gone unreported.”