Disability Rights Activist Chikwado Chukwu Demands Answers Over Physiotherapist’s Death in Umahi’s Residence

Chikwado Raphael Chukwu says a minister should explain why a young woman died naked inside his private residence, and why it took a newsroom, not the police, to tell Nigerians about it.

Chikwado Raphael Chukwu, a blind professional and disability and human rights activist, used his verified Facebook account on Monday, 13th July 2026, to demand answers over the death of Mary Habila, a physiotherapist who died inside the Uburu residence of Nigeria’s Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi.

Habila and a colleague, Anita Baski, both from Kaduna State, arrived at Umahi’s residence in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, on 26th June. Habila died inside the residence the next day, 27th June. Chikwado wrote that her body was carried out naked and placed in the ambulance that came for her.

Neither Umahi, the Ebonyi State Police Command, nor the state government spoke publicly about the death for almost two weeks. It took an investigative report by Sahara Reporters, published 10th July, before the case became public knowledge.

When Umahi did respond, through his aide Francis Nwaze, he said Habila and Baski were his personal physiotherapists, employees of the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, who had been on secondment to the Federal Ministry of Works for three years. He called for an autopsy and said Habila’s family had declined it. Sahara Reporters has separately reported, citing police sources, that Habila and Baski were brought to the residence for reasons unrelated to physiotherapy, and says it holds photographs of the body that it will publish if Umahi disputes its account.

Chikwado said he could not say which version of events was true, but that the underlying facts were serious enough on their own. “A minister of the federal republic had two young civil servants sent to his private residence, far from any hospital or official duty post, and one of them ended up dead,” he wrote. He asked why a minister would need a physiotherapist at his village home, away from his office and any clinic, for three years, and why it took a private newsroom rather than the police or the state government to tell the country a woman had died there.

The Ebonyi born activist,, Chikwado, also drew attention to the role of Jonathan Bawado, a serving police officer who works as Umahi’s personal assistant and previously served as his aide-de-camp during his time as Ebonyi State governor. Police sources have told Sahara Reporters that Bawado brought the two women to the residence. “A serving police officer, running personal errands like this for a minister, is exactly the kind of thing that should be looked into, not brushed past,” Chikwado wrote.

He closed his post by saying Habila’s family deserved answers, that the autopsy and investigation should proceed regardless of whose name it touches, and that her death had not yet been allowed to rest.

The case has since moved from the Ohaozara Divisional Police Headquarters to the Ebonyi State Criminal Investigation Department in Abakaliki. As of this report, the police have not issued a public statement on the cause of death or the status of the autopsy.