Nine years after John Anozie allegedly disappeared following his abduction by police operatives, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Tunji Disu, has forwarded the case file on the incident to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, in line with a court order.
Judge Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered the IGP, in a judgement delivered in September 2025, to release the case file to Nnenna Anozie, the wife of the missing businessman, Mr Anozie.
However, the police authorities ignored the judgment for about 10 months.
Mrs Anozie, through her lawyer, Vincent Adodo, instituted contempt proceedings about two months after the judgement against the then-IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, for disobeying the court’s judgement.
The latest development follows the last hearing on 13 July, when Judge Binta Nyako welcomed news that the long-missing case file had been found.
“At least something is happening,” the judge remarked after Mrs Anozie’s lawyer informed the court that the police had located the case file after months of search, but lamented that he did not know what was preventing the police from forwarding the file to the AGF.
Earlier on that day, before the lawyer informed the court of the development, Judge Nyako said she was considering transferring the contempt proceedings to another judge because she had become “so involved” in the matter. However, with the police now forwarding the case file to the AGF, the judge may reconsider continuing with the case.
According to a statement issued on Friday by Mrs Anozie’s legal team, led by Mr Adodo, “the court drew the applicant’s lawyer’s attention to a Notice of Compliance filed by the IGP’s lawyer, Stanley Nwodo.”
The statement disclosed that “the notice informed the court that the case file, which contains the investigation report and legal advice on Mr Anozie’s disappearance, had been forwarded to the AGF as ordered in the court’s judgment.”
Mr Adodo said the legal team looks forward to full compliance with the remaining orders contained in the judgment.
He noted that the outstanding orders include the release of the certified true copy of the duplicate case file to Mrs Anozie, the arrest of the two police officers identified as the principal suspects in her husband’s disappearance, their handover to the AGF for prosecution, and compliance with the court’s order directing the payment of N2 million damages awarded to Mrs Anozie for the violation of her right to access information.
Nine years of quest for justice
According to a detailed Premium Times report, ‘Horror of Police Brutality: A Nigerian widow’s pain mirrors victims’ agonies,’ published in January, Mrs Anozie’s quest for justice spans nine years and reflects the struggle of many Nigerian families whose relatives disappeared after encounters with the police, years before the #EndSARS protests brought the issue to national attention.
The investigation traced how her husband, Mr Anozie, disappeared in June 2017 after operatives of the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) allegedly travelled from Awkuzu, Anambra State, to arrest him at his home in Lagos.
The police later claimed Mr Anozie d!ed in custody but failed to produce his body despite repeated court orders.
The officers implicated in the case are Anthony Obiozor Ikechukwu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police; Uzochukwu Emeana, a sergeant; John Eze, also known as T-Boy; Oriole; and Sunday Okpe, a Superintendent of Police. Some of them have since retired from the police.
Over the years, Mrs Anozie petitioned the police, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the #EndSARS Judicial Panel of Inquiry.
She also secured judgements from different courts directing the police to produce her husband or his body and hold the officers implicated in his disappearance accountable, but the police ignored all the orders.
Her latest legal victory came on 24 September last year when Mrs Nyako, the Federal High Court judge, ordered the IGP to release the duplicate case file and investigation reports to her, arrest the officers identified as the principal suspects, hand them over to the AGF for prosecution and pay N2 million in damages for violating her right to information.
However, the police failed to comply with the judgment, prompting Mrs Anozie to commence contempt proceedings against the then IGP, Mr Egbetokun, in December 2025.
The contempt proceedings, however, moved slowly. At one stage, the judge warned that she could order the arrest of the then police chief if the judgment remained disobeyed.
The matter later stalled after Mr Egbetokun left office in February and was succeeded by Mr Disu, forcing the contempt proceedings to continue against the new IGP.
When the case returned to court on 13 July, Mrs Anozie’s lawyer informed the court that the missing case file had finally been found after months of search.
The Notice of Compliance marks the first documented step by the police towards implementing Justice Nyako’s September 2025 judgment.
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