For six years, the parents of the late Chika Chukwu Onwe waited for what could give them closure: the body of their son, who allegedly died in police custody in Enugu State.

Now, the family is asking the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu, to release the 28-year-old’s remains so they can finally bury him.

Chika was arrested on December 1, 2019, by operatives of the Anti-Cult Police Division in connection with a cult clash at Agbani in Nkanu West Local Council of the state. He allegedly died from torture while in police custody in January 2020.

In a November 22, 2023 counter-affidavit before the Enugu State High Court, filed in response to a fundamental rights suit by Chika’s parents, one of the police officers who handled the case, Inspector Jude Ogbu, stated that the deceased’s body had been deposited at the UNTH mortuary.

The suit, numbered E/703/2023, was filed against the Enugu State Government, the Commissioner of Police and officers of the Anti-Cult Police Division.

In a petition dated September 14, 2026, and addressed to the Chairman of the UNTH Management Board through their lawyer, Chukwunonso Ogbe, Chika’s parents, Mr and Mrs Anayo Ume, asked the hospital to release their son’s remains.

They also requested information on the identities of all bodies deposited at the hospital’s mortuary by the police between December 1, 2019 and January 5, 2020, as well as the names and official designations of the officers who deposited them.

The family said the request was made pursuant to Sections 1, 2(1), 14(1)(a) and 14(3) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.

The petition stated: “We undertake to pay any reasonable amount of money that may be required as envisaged by Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 in order to be given any document(s) containing the information which we are requesting.”

Meanwhile, the family has also petitioned the Police Service Commission, seeking the discipline, dismissal and prosecution of the police officers allegedly involved in what it described as the “saga” surrounding Chika’s death.

The request followed a judgment of the Enugu State High Court, which found two police officers, Inspector Jude Ogbu and DSP Chidobe Ekeleme, liable for violating Chika’s fundamental right to life.

In the judgment delivered by Justice C.O. Ajah in May 2024, the court awarded N20 million in costs jointly against the Commissioner of Police, Ogbu and Ekeleme over the unlawful killing of Chika while he was in their custody without trial and without due process.