Gift Chikadibia, a final-year Marketing student at the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, faces the devastating possibility of missing her final exams—and graduation—after being unlawfully detained alongside her father and sisters by officers of the Abia State Police.
The family was reportedly arrested on April 12, 2025, during a midnight raid in Umuahia by operatives from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Mopol Base. Since then, the detainees have had no access to legal representation, communication, or formal charges.
Gift’s mother, Chioma Chikadibia, told Reporters that her daughter had returned home for Easter when the arrests occurred. “She is at the risk of carrying over all of her courses,” she said, confirming that IMT exams began May 15 and end May 28, 2025.
The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has condemned the raid as “a gross abuse of police power.” RULAAC alleges that officers stormed the Chikadibia home without uniforms, seized valuables, and abducted family members—including another daughter who was lured by a phone call.
Despite numerous appeals by the family’s lawyer, police have neither justified the detentions nor permitted access. RULAAC Executive Director Okechukwu Nwanguma has urged the Inspector-General of Police and Abia State Commissioner to investigate, discipline the involved officers, and release the detained family immediately.
As the exam deadline looms, the Chikadibia family’s ordeal underscores Nigeria’s ongoing struggle with unlawful detentions and the urgent need for police reform.
