Posted by This Day Online on
The police on Tuesday, in Abuja, quizzed the former Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, in respect of the 2002 murder of the Onitsha branch Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Barnabas Igwe; and his wife, Abigail.
The police on Tuesday, in Abuja, quizzed the former Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, in respect of the 2002 murder of the Onitsha branch Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Barnabas Igwe; and his wife, Abigail.
Sources told correspondent, on Wednesday, that Mbadinuju was interrogated at the instance of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, for about five hours. He was released thereafter.
The former governor, who lost power in the 2003 general election, denied on Wednesday that the police quizzed him in connection with the Igwes' murder. He, however, told our correspondent that he was with the Police IG on Tuesday night.
Sources said Ehindero ordered the invitation of Mbadinuju for interrogation following the police's review of the unresolved murders. Igwe just before his death was a vocal critic of Mbadinuju's administration. He was hacked down in his home, along with his wife, on September 2, 2002. Mbadinuju was widely fingered for the cold-blooded murder, but the police until now came up against a brick wall in their investigations.
Speaking with our correspondent in his Abuja home late on Wednesday, Mbadinuju said he had been cleared of the Igwes' murder and there was no cause for the police to reopen the case.
He said, 'Before I left as governor, I was cleared. You know I was in Houston, Texas, attending a meeting when the Igwes were killed.
'Before I left for that meeting, we exchanged a few letters in which they thanked me for assisting the Bar association. You don't kill somebody who is your friend. So, I was found not answerable to that charge. And that has remained so till today. And there is no fresh evidence that can make the IG reopen the case.
'I must say I was with the IG last night (Tuesday) before he travelled abroad this (Wednesday) morning. And Igwe's matter did not come up."
The PUNCH, Thursday, November 10, 2005