Susanne, the widow of the Chief Protocol Officer of the Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Desmond Nunugwo, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of killing her husband and labelling him a criminal.
She explained that six hours after Desmond was taken into custody, he was pronounced dead.
She told newsmen: “Around 3pm on June 9, my husband had gone to pick up our son from school and they both returned home. He later went out. Around 6pm, I called his line and it rang once. I tried his number several times later, but it was off.
“The next morning, I got apprehensive when he didn’t come home. However, around 3.48pm, someone called me with his phone and said my husband was in the EFCC’s custody and I should come to bail him.”
Susanne said on getting to the EFCC, she was told to go and get a man because being a woman, her husband could not be released on bail to her.
Shortly after leaving, the EFCC was alleged to have issued a press statement breaking the news of Desmond’s death.
She said, “The EFCC called me to their office to come and bail my husband while he was already at the mortuary.
“I later received a phone call from a former colleague of mine that he had read the news online that my husband was arrested for fraud and he had died.”
The widow said she was informed that her husband’s arrest was sequel to a petition written by one Uloma, his business associate.
“The EFCC told me that before he died, he wrote a statement of four pages. They gave him his phone to make calls for about two hours and then nobody came to bail him and so they said they transferred him to their head office and that a few hours later, he started to complain of discomfort and slumped. They said he was rushed to the hospital and confirmed dead,” he added.
However, the EFCC had said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, that the deceased allegedly fraudulently obtained N91m from an acquaintance after he tricked her into believing that he had high net worth business associates in Dubai, who were on the verge of buying NICON Insurance, and convinced her of their disposition to help her stockfish business.
“The suspect was detained at about 7.30pm, in the absence of anybody to take him on bail. Six hours later, he suddenly complained of discomfort and was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.”
