CIIN, Anambra State Govt, Urge FG, SAG to Unravel cause of CIIN DDG’s Death
Late CIIN DDG, Mrs. Elizabeth Uju Ndubuisi-Chukwu
The President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Eddie Efekoha, has called on the Nigerian and South African governments, as well as other government agencies, to unearth the death of its former Deputy Director-General, Mrs Elizabeth Uju Ndubisi-Chukwu.
Also Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State has written to the Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria, Mr Boss Mustapha, to use his good offices to get the South African police authorities to take serious steps to unravel the murder of a Nigerian corporate executive in Johannesburg last month.
Efekoha said this while delivering a tribute at the service of songs organised by the Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC) in honour of three departed colleagues in the industry who died in the month of June.
The two others were the late Chief Dipo Bailey, who was a past president of CIIN and a past commissioner for insurance; and late Prof. Funmi Adeyemi, who was a past Director-General, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA).
Speaking on their efforts so far to ensure that the cause of Uju’s death is unravel, Efekoha said, “We have since written officially to the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa and the organisers of the conference African Insurance Organisation/Institute of Insurance in South Africa to assist in getting to the bottom of this.
“The Nigerian High Commission has in turn confirmed working with the South African Police authorities to unravel the cause of death. As the institute works with the family of Mrs Ndubisi-Chukwu and others to unravel the cause of death, we enjoin all parties concerned to exercise patience and avoid making statement that will prejudice official investigations.”
Her death occurred in South Africa during the just- concluded African Insurance Organisation conference in Johannesburg and
It became worrisome, when the autopsy report said the cause of her death was unnatural
“While the cause of her death has generated a lot of controversies in the public space, we want to reiterate that we are committed as an institution to unravel the cause of her death,” Efekoha added.
Governor Obiano in a letter to Mr Mustapha, which was released yesterday in Awka, Anambra State, by the state Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr C. Don Adinuba, explained that it had become necessary to request the SGFN to personally wade into the killing because the police in Johannesburg may be capitalizing on the absence of a foreign minister in Nigeria to treat the case with levity.
The governor said that reports he has received on the death of the 53-year old indigene of Anambra State “and my analysis of the reports suggest that the South African police are treating this murder as just another Nigerian’s death in their country”.
Emperor Palace Hotel as explained at the weekend that it has not released the CCTV footage to the police because they had yet to request for it.
It’s is disheartening that over three weeks after the dastardly act the South African police have not deemed it necessary to investigate the heinous crime with the seriousness it deserves”, Obiano observed.
“Mrs Ndubuisi-Chukwu was not an ordinary person, but a top corporate executive who was billed to become early next year the chief executive of her organization and was representing Nigeria at the meeting in Johannesburg where she met her untimely death”.
The South African Department of Home Affairs had in an autopsy report stated that Mrs Ndubuisi-Chukwu was strangulated, contradicting some earlier reports suggesting that she might have died in her sleep or committed suicide.
Governor Obiano argued in the letter to the Federal Government that a “painstaking investigation by the South African police should be able to unearth easily the person or persons who entered her room after she had joined her colleagues attending the African Insurance Conference in the farewell dinner on Wednesday, June 12.
“The job has been made easier now because Emperor Palace Hotel has agreed to release the CCTV footage to them”.
Mrs Ndubuisi-Chukwu’s death has been the subject of intense media scrutiny, with Governor Obiano vowing not to relent in seeking justice for any Anambra indigene “whose life is wasted anywhere, whether in Nigeria or abroad.
“The people and government are grateful to the Nigerian human rights community led by Professor Chidi Odinkalu, the past chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission, for fighting to ensure that justice is done to the memory of Mrs Ndubuisi-Chukwu, a mother of two boys”
