{"id":72209,"date":"2025-08-06T05:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T05:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=72209"},"modified":"2025-08-06T05:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T05:38:11","slug":"lawyers-sue-police-over-failure-to-investigate-abuja-area-mamas-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/08\/06\/lawyers-sue-police-over-failure-to-investigate-abuja-area-mamas-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers Sue Police Over Failure to Investigate Abuja Area Mama\u2019s Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Samuel Adeola<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nearly a year after the brutal killing of Ifeanyi Chukwu-Agah Benedict, popularly known as Abuja Area Mama (AAM), a coalition of human rights lawyers has filed a lawsuit against the Nigeria Police Force for allegedly failing to investigate the case.<\/p>\n<p>AAM was attacked and murdered on August 8, 2024, by unknown assailants.<\/p>\n<p>Her naked body was discovered along the Katampe-Mabushi Expressway in Abuja, sparking outrage among minority communities and human rights groups.<\/p>\n<p>Minority Watch, a legal advocacy group, described the killing as a targeted attack linked to AAM\u2019s gender identity and public profile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was singled out either solely because of her identity or due to other undisclosed factors,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside two partner NGOs, Minority Watch petitioned the FCT Commissioner of Police immediately after the murder and again on February 12, 2025, demanding a thorough investigation. Despite acknowledgements of the petitions, the groups say no action has been taken.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe refusal or neglect to investigate this heinous crime is not only unacceptable but also a further violation of AAM\u2019s fundamental right to life,\u201d said Chizelu Emejulu, Executive Director of Minority Watch.<\/p>\n<p>In response, the group has filed a Fundamental Rights Enforcement suit (FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/1584\/2025) at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking a declaration that police inaction violates constitutional protections. They are also asking the court to issue an order of mandamus compelling the police to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those responsible for the killing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe right to life is sacrosanct,\u201d Emejulu stated. \u201cIgnoring such a brutal crime sends a dangerous message that some lives don\u2019t matter. We cannot allow that precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Human rights advocates say the case highlights systemic indifference toward violence against marginalized groups. The Federal High Court is expected to assign the case to a judge and announce a hearing date in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samuel Adeola Nearly a year after the brutal killing of Ifeanyi Chukwu-Agah Benedict, popularly known as Abuja Area Mama (AAM), a coalition of human rights lawyers has filed a lawsuit against the Nigeria Police Force for allegedly failing to investigate the case. AAM was attacked and murdered on August 8, 2024, by unknown assailants. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":72210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abuja-reports","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72211,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72209\/revisions\/72211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}