Thirty‑three‑year‑old Chidinma Imonima, a Point of Sale terminal operator, recounts to journalist Chukwudi Akasike how the police rebuffed numerous attempts and court orders to prove her husband Robinson’s innocence. Robinson disappeared from custody in 2019 after being accused of kidnapping a woman and her child.
Chidinma married Robinson on 18 November 2018 when she was 28 and he was 32. In August 2019, after Robinson left for the market to meet a colleague, Chidinma called him at 5 p.m.; his phone rang but he did not answer. At 7 p.m., a friend informed her that police were dragging Robinson into a van. She rushed to the Rivers State CID in Port Harcourt, only to be told no one by that name was there. Later, a woman selling food to detainees called, saying Robinson had given her Chidinma’s number. Armed with this information, Chidinma returned to the CID, but the police again denied his presence. Eventually, a CID officer summoned her to meet Robinson, and they hired a lawyer who accompanied them to the station. The lawyer spoke with Robinson, after which the police returned him to a cell. The officer in charge, identified as Stephen, demanded N500,000 for his release. Chidinma, who had just delivered a baby three weeks earlier, could not pay. The police later raised the amount to N1 million, then negotiated it down to N500,000.
Robinson instructed Chidinma to contact a friend who owed him N1 million, hoping the friend could provide the N500,000. The friend could not help, so Chidinma borrowed N1.8 million using house documents—a debt she is still repaying. Robinson later told her not to pay the police, suspecting their dishonesty. The police claimed they possessed his ATM card and that his account contained funds, which he denied, stating the card and pin were in his car, which had also been seized. He alleged the police had withdrawn all his money on the day of his arrest.
The police alleged Robinson was involved in kidnapping a woman and her son. When Chidinma inquired about the victims, the officers said the victims did not wish to be seen. In September 2019, she went to the station to bring food, only to learn Robinson had been transferred to the IGP Monitoring Unit. A man sent by Robinson later told her that Robinson was at the IGP Monitoring Unit in Aluu, had been shot in the leg after refusing to admit involvement in the kidnapping, and needed N20,000 for medical treatment. She gathered the money, was instructed to pose as Robinson’s sister, and paid the police. She saw Robinson briefly through a small hole, but he was subsequently removed from the unit after the police discovered she was his wife.
Robinson was never taken to court. Chidinma’s efforts to have him tried—from the state CID to the Anti‑Kidnapping Unit and the IGP Monitoring Unit—were repeatedly rebuffed. She now supports herself and her daughter by operating a PoS terminal as a mobile banking agent. Before his arrest, Robinson was involved in oil bunkering; Chidinma had just completed her NYSC and graduated before marrying him. Their daughter is alive and well, though she sometimes asks for her father.
Chidinma maintains that Robinson did not commit any crime and that the police should have allowed her to speak with him. She demands that, if he was killed, the authorities reveal his burial site so his remains can be exhumed. She also calls for the accuser to be identified and for the truth about his arrest to be disclosed. Opinions about Robinson’s guilt are divided: some friends claim he was innocent, while others allege his boat was used in the kidnapping and that the woman’s brother orchestrated the crime. Chidinma knows Robinson was a cultist and oil bunkerer but denies any involvement in kidnapping.
She has not remarried, citing uncertainty about Robinson’s fate. Her family is divided; some advise her to move on, while others warn that Robinson might return. The lawyer they hired spent nearly N1 million, including N400,000 allegedly given to a policeman, yet secured no release. The family is angry, having stopped contacting the lawyer, whom they once considered a friend. Chidinma believes a better lawyer could have achieved a different outcome.
Regarding extrajudicial killings, Chidinma condemns the practice, emphasizing that even alleged criminals deserve a trial. She argues that, even if Robinson were guilty, imprisonment would be preferable to disappearance. She has pursued court orders demanding the police present Robinson, but the police have repeatedly ignored three such orders. When court officials, her lawyer, and Robinson’s father visited the IGP Monitoring Unit, they were told he was not in custody. Exhausted and lacking funds, Chidinma eventually ceased active pursuit, leaving the matter to God while continuing to care for her daughter. Nonetheless, she has not forgotten her husband and remains uncertain about her next steps, which will depend on the decisions of his family members.
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