Police in Anambra State have arrested Transition Committee Chairman of Nnewi North Local Government Area, Hon. Mbazulike Iloka over complicity in the death of his wife, Chidiebere Iloka.
Iloka, who was sworn in as chairman of the local government area, less than a week before the death of his wife was earlier suspended by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, following allegations of wife battery, which led to her death.
Iloka had long denied being responsible for the wife’s death, claiming he had never touched her, but that she slipped and fell and hit her head on a concrete wall while bringing food to him.
A source confirmed that the suspended chairman who is popularly known as Mba Mba is currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Awka, Anambra State, under charges of culpable homicide.
His arrest, it was gathered, was as a result of a petition by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) on Monday addressed to the Inspector-General of Police Usman Alkali Baba at the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters.
Confirming Iloka’s arrest of Iloka, Police Command’s spokesperson, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga said: “He is in our custody now and I urge the members of the public to be patient as the autopsy shall prove the cause of the wife death. Meanwhile investigation is still ongoing”
HURIWA had in a press release earlier issued after the suspension of the chairman urged the Anambra State Police Command to arrest the him, saying his suspension was not enough.
The group said the state government must ensure the immediate arrest and prosecution of the LG boss beyond his suspension.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in the statement tasked Governor Chukwuma Soludo to make a scapegoat of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act domesticated in Anambra in 2017 which criminalised all types of violence against persons, and offering protection and remedies for victims.
Onwubiko said, “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 LG 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.”
