Missing Abuja businesswoman fear killed as friends allege cover up

Friends of missing Abuja-based businesswoman, Charity Eiyadogbon, say they believe she might have been killed shortly after she was abducted on May 11, 2016.

Forty-four-year-old Charity, who is said to be separated from her husband, David, vanished without a trace, without informing anyone of any trip even though a curious message was found on her Facebook wall saying she was going on a road trip.

Her friends who believe she might have been forced to write this on Facebook to make it look as if she indeed travelled, said unpacked luggage in her apartment and a full pot of soup in her kitchen showed that she did not plan to go anywhere.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that Charity, who got married in 1988 at the age of 16, had been separated from her husband, David, for about two years, while her children live with their father.

The police said David had been invited over the whereabouts of his ex-wife, but did not reveal if he is seen as a suspect.

A US-based lawyer, Mr. Emeka Ugwuonye, who has taken up the campaign for the search of the mother of three and popularly called Deepdeal-Chacha-Dehammer, said in a statement that some people had been arrested over the case, but feared the police were arresting people for all the wrong reasons.

“I am sorry to disappoint those who have hoped that Chacha would be found alive and rescued. 

Without ruling out completely the miracle of her being found alive, our investigation and analysis of the facts, events and occurrences in this case indicate that Chacha is probably dead. We presume she was killed within a few hours of her estimated time of disappearance,” he said.

Why the lawyer reached this conclusion is not immediately clear but the woman has been missing for one and a half months without any word from her.

But Saturday PUNCH learnt that a close business associate and friend of the missing woman Mr. Tochukwu Ejiagwa, alias Kelven, has been arrested in Kaduna State by the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit.

Ugwuonye said Kelven was transferred to Abuja and sent to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, where he feared he might be tortured. Apart from Kelven, the lawyer said the police have also arrested the missing woman’s lawyer. He said the police also arrested a man identified as Joe who is Charity’s confidant and lover.

A police officer familiar with the investigation told our correspondent that the men were invited based on information given by “parties who have been invited for questioning.”

“Are we going to conduct an investigation without making any arrest or inviting anybody for questioning? We cannot hold an innocent person forever. When our investigation shows someone has nothing to do with the case, they will be duly released,” the officer, who pleaded anonymity, said.