Photo: Man accuses Lagos police officers of causing the death of his six weeks pregnant wife.

A widower named Solomon Wilfred has accused
the Lagos state police command of causing the
death of his six weeks pregnant wife, Vivienne,
on March 16th, the Nation reports.

Solomon who just got married to Vivienne in
December last year, said his wife was arrested
at the Apena market on March 15th over
allegations of kidnapping a teenage girl.

 A woman identified as Chinwendu Udomadu had
accosted the deceased with claims that the little
girl she came to the market with, Perpetual
Ucheweaku was one Osinachi Udomadu, her
daughter, who had been missing since 2014.

The deceased denied the claims, stating that she
was the guardian of the teenage girl and that
she also knows the teenage girls parents. After
much argument, police officers at the market
arrested the women and took them to the
station.

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Akinpelu
was said to have transferred the case to the
State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID)
at Panti, Yaba, claiming that it was a criminal
case which could not be handled at his station.

Solomon said his wife was detained in a cell
while he wrote a statement. He said he begged
to swap places with her since she was pregnant
and “suffers stress induced seizures”.

“I told them she was pregnant and sick. I
told them she had stress induced
seizures, and I went upstairs to write the
statement for me to swap places with
her. But when I came back, they had
thrown her into the cell. I even thought
they put her behind the counter to wait
for me to write the statement, but she
was in the cell. Then I told them to
release her because I already told them
she was not feeling fine” he said.

Solomon said his wife died shortly after she
was released the next day March 16th.

However the Lagos state police spokesperson,
Dolapo Badmos, has denied his claim. According
to Badmos, the deceased was never put in any
cell.

"She was never put in the cell and she
was released by the ACP SCID
immediately her husband said she was
six weeks pregnant and has health
challenges. The ACP later called and told
me that she has been informed the
woman fainted at home and was rushed
to the hospital where she passed on,” she
said.

Badmos added that the the teenage girl and her
alleged mother are to be subjected to a DNA
test.

“The police did nothing wrong in the matter. The
suspects (Chinwendu and Chinemerem
Udomadu) have been charged to court and the
result of the DNA test is still being awaited.”she
said.