Investigation Deepens into Mary Habila's Controversial Death

Ebonyi State, Investigations, News, Nigeria

Mary Habila Death: Affidavit Deepens Mystery Inside Umahi’s House

A locked-room death, a sworn affidavit and a battle over autopsy have turned Mary Habila’s final night inside Minister David Umahi’s residence into a case Nigeria is now watching closely.

Atlantic Post

July 16, 2026

3–4 minutes

autopsy, David Umahi, Ebonyi State, Mary Habila, Police Investigation, Uburu

A fresh sworn account from a colleague of the late Mary Habila has intensified scrutiny over the physiotherapist’s death at the residence of the Minister of Works, David Umahi, in Uburu, Ebonyi State, as police press ahead with a post-mortem and the family resists the procedure.

The emerging record now contains three competing pillars: a first-hand affidavit from a colleague, an official insistence by police that an autopsy is necessary, and a family position that the body should be buried without further medical intrusion.

According to colleague Anita Baaki’s account, Habila spent the evening with her after returning from a hair appointment. “Mary told me she was tired and wanted to take a shower before sleeping.

That was the last time I saw her alive,” Baaki stated in the affidavit cited by Vanguard. She said the two women had chatted and joked shortly before Habila retired for the night.

Baaki’s statement goes on to describe the following morning as the point at which alarm began to build. When Habila did not emerge as usual, repeated calls to her phone allegedly failed to connect. Baaki then went to Habila’s room and, finding it locked from the inside and receiving no response, alerted domestic staff to search the premises.

After Habila could not be found elsewhere, the door was forced open and she was discovered lying unconscious on the floor near the entrance. She was then rushed to the David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital, where doctors confirmed she had been brought in dead.

That sequence has now become central to the investigation. The Ebonyi State Police Command has insisted that a post-mortem is necessary to establish the cause of death and support its ongoing inquiry.

Police spokesperson Joshua Ukandu said detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department have visited the scene, documented evidence and taken statements from persons linked to the incident. He added that the command had concluded arrangements to engage a qualified pathologist.

The Ebonyi State Ministry of Justice has also reportedly weighed in. In a legal advice dated 15 July 2026, the Director of Public Prosecutions said the evidence in the police case file did not sufficiently establish what caused Habila’s death and that the circumstances at the scene could not be resolved without a medical examination.

The advice, as reported, described a post-mortem as the proper way to give investigators a clear direction.

The family, however, has taken the opposite route. In an affidavit seen by Premium Times, Habila’s father said the family does not consent to an autopsy and asked for the body to be released for burial.

He said the family did not suspect foul play and did not wish to proceed further with the investigation. That position has turned what might otherwise have remained a private bereavement into a public contest over evidence, procedure and trust.

Umahi himself has now publicly addressed the matter. In remarks reported by The Sun, he described Habila as “like a daughter” and said she had spoken to her boyfriend shortly before her death, complaining of a nosebleed.

He also said she had told the boyfriend the bleeding had stopped, and that concern only escalated when she stopped answering calls the next morning.

His version adds another layer of complexity because it differs sharply from some of the public descriptions circulating around the case. In the same report, Umahi said Habila was a nurse, not a physiotherapist, and claimed she had been under treatment for an undisclosed medical condition in Abuja.

Yet other reports continue to describe her as a physiotherapist attached to the minister’s medical team, leaving a factual contradiction at the centre of the story that investigators will eventually have to reconcile.

What is clear is that this is no longer only about one death inside a powerful man’s compound. It is now about whether the official record, the colleague’s affidavit, the family’s burial wishes and the police’s insistence on a post-mortem can all be reconciled without further controversy.

For now, the case remains open, the body has not been released, and the demand for a transparent explanation is only getting louder.