Two years after IGP’s promise, silence still shrouds Nnamdi Emeh investigation; whistleblower remains behind bars

By Okechukwu Nwanguma

More than two years after the Inspector-General of Police announced a high-level investigation into shocking allegations of extrajudicial killings, organ harvesting, extortion, and torture linked to officers of the Anambra State Command and the now-notorious Awkuzu/RRS complex, the Nigeria Police Force has still not released the findings of that investigation.

Even more troubling is the fact that the young whistleblower whose revelations triggered the inquiry—National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member and Information Technology (IT) consultant, Nnamdi Emeh—remains in detention despite being granted bail by a court and fulfilling the conditions. His continued incarceration raises legitimate fears for his safety and deepens the perception that the silence is strategic, not accidental.

In March 2023, RULAAC issued a statement calling for a transparent, impartial, and exhaustive investigation into both the allegations raised by Emeh and the counter-allegations levelled against him.

We warned then—just as we warn now—that nothing less than full disclosure and accountability would suffice. RULAAC and other civil society groups later reaffirmed this position, insisting that the whistleblower must be accorded due process and that the accused police officers must face open scrutiny.

Instead, the opposite happened.

The senior officers accused of running a criminal ring within Zone 13 and the Anambra CID Annex, including CSP Patrick Agbazue, SP Nkeiruka Nwode, and Inspector Harrison Akama, were invited to the Force Headquarters and allowed to return to their posts the same day.

There was no suspension. No public update. No assurance that the officers were removed from positions where they could interfere with evidence or intimidate witnesses.

As the months stretched into years, the panel reportedly submitted its findings—but the report has remained locked away from the public.

Meanwhile, the whistleblower who exposed the alleged atrocities was arrested, paraded, denied access to open judicial proceedings for weeks, and kept in police custody long after the police claimed the matter had been charged to court. Even after securing bail and meeting the conditions, he has not been released.

What message does this send? That exposing, grave human rights violations is more dangerous than committing them.

That the system protects the powerful and punishes the vulnerable. And that a police force repeatedly implicated in torture, extortion, and custodial killings still struggles to grasp that accountability is not optional.

The Nigeria Police Force owes the public far more than silence. The allegations made by Emeh were not trivial. They were not imaginary. They were consistent with years of documented abuses associated with Awkuzu and other black sites in Anambra. They deserved—and still deserve—a full, public, transparent investigation.

Two years later, the failure to release the investigative report amounts to a cover-up by omission. It erodes public trust, undermines ongoing police reform commitments, and endangers every whistleblower who dares to challenge impunity.

The demands are simple, lawful, and overdue:

Immediate release of the investigative report of the panel set up by the IGP.

Immediate release of Nnamdi Emeh in compliance with the court order granting him bail.

Prosecution—not protection—of any officer found culpable.

Institutional safeguards to protect whistleblowers within the police system.

Restructuring and reform of the RRS/Awkuzu operational environment, where a long history of abuses has been repeatedly flagged.

The continued detention of a whistleblower while implicated officers walk free is a stain on the justice system and a betrayal of the very principles the Nigeria Police Force swore to uphold.

The truth cannot remain buried. The victims cannot remain forgotten. And Nnamdi Emeh cannot remain a pawn in what increasingly looks like an effort to silence accountability.

Nigeria cannot keep promising reform while punishing those who demand it.

Nwanguma, Rule of Law Advocate and
Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre