Policewoman risks sack for rescuing mad woman’s baby

From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki

This is certainly not the best of times for a policewoman in Ebonyi State, Inspector Charity Agwu, who rescued a baby from its mentally challenged mother.

Instead of Agwu to be rewarded for her good work, she has allegedly been facing intimidation, harassment and humiliation by her superiors in the state police command. Her offence is that she has insisted to know the whereabouts of the baby boy she rescued in December 2022.

According to the policewoman, she circumcised and put the child in good medical condition before it was taken away from her by the police command and officials of the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

At the moment, the mother of five (four boys and one girl) and the police command sharply disagree over the whereabouts of the baby boy and who should take custody of him.

In the matter, a social media critic in the state, Mrs. Chinyere Nwele, alleged that the baby had been sold through a post on her social media handle. She was arrested and detained for 22 days by the police before she was arraigned and remanded at the Abakaliki correctional centre.

Nwele languished for months in jail before she was released after being granted bail by a court through the efforts of her lawyer, Nwugo Chimere Nwugo.

Agwu, on her part, has faced orderly room trial at the police headquarters, Abakaliki, for “being stubborn” on the matter by insisting that she must know the whereabouts of the child, in case the relatives of the mentally challenged woman surfaced in the future and demanded for their baby.

Daily Sun gathered that the policewoman has been tried by the police authorities in the state more than six times for challenging some senior police officers in the command over the matter.

On December 2, 2022, Agwu, who was then a sergeant, was on duty on the road and saw something wrapped in a black bag by a mentally challenged woman. She suspected that whatever was inside the bag needed to be salvaged. She immediately approached the woman to know what was inside the bag. Lo and behold, it was a newborn baby and it was really in a bad condition.

Agwu engaged the woman in a discussion and pleaded with her to release the baby to her, promising to take good care of the child. Passersby already gathered in their numbers at Convent Road, Abakaliki, where the incident occurred.

After much persuasion by Agwu and the passersby, the mentally deranged woman handed over the child to Agwu, who reiterated her promise to take good care of the baby pending when contact would be established with her family for collection of the child.

She then took the baby to the police clinic inside the command headquarters, Abakaliki, for medical attention.

While at the police clinic, a senior police woman surfaced and requested to take over the treatment and custody of the child proper. But Agwu refused on the ground that she had not documented the matter, in case any issue cropped up in the future.

The unnamed senior police officer mounted pressure on Agwu and brought three more officers into the matter, who allegedly rained abuses on her. They threatened to deal with her for disobeying her seniors in the police job.

Eventually, Agwu released the baby after making a documentary on it and insisted that the baby must be taken to the motherless babies’ home responsible for taking care of babies of such nature for proper care.

She left the baby in the motherless babies’ home and came back the following day to see him but was not allowed to do so by the authorities of the home who told her that the then Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Chinwe Okah, who is now Commissioner for Budget Planning and Research in the state, asked them not to allow her access to the baby because she was not the biological mother of the child.

According to the policewoman, she then sent someone to visit the motherless babies’ home and know if the baby was still there but the person returned and told her that the baby was no longer in the home.

Inspector Agwu was surprised and insisted that she must see the baby, which did not go down well with some senior police officers and the then commissioner for women affairs and social development. Okah had reportedly vowed that the Good Samaritan would not see the baby.

Inspector Agwu’s “stubborn approach” on the matter has earned her several orderly room trials. She was detained by the authorities of the state police command on several occasions, tried and released by the command.

Sometimes, she would be asked to appear before the senior police officers handling her trial and she would obey. She would wait for several hours without seeing anyone and her trial would be shifted to another time.

When the officers handling it eventually appeared, Agwu would be tried and remanded and released to go home and asked to come back days later.

The unending harassment, intimidation and humiliation of the Inspector by her superiors forced her sister, Mrs. Janet Alex, to petition the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.

In the petition written by her lawyer, Nwugo, a copy of which was obtained by Daily Sun, Alex said: “My sister left the baby with the motherless babies’ home and came back the following day to see the baby but was not allowed to do so by the authorities that the Commissioner for Women Affairs asked them not to allow her to see the baby just because she is not the biological mother of the child.

“Worried about the situation, the safety and wellbeing of the child and considering that no effort was made by the Ministry of Women Affairs to locate or contact the family of the mentally challenged woman still wandering in Abakaliki metropolis, her sister was worried as news started making the rounds that a policewoman sold a child she took from a mentally challenged woman.”

Alex alleged that, to cover up the truth about the rescued baby, the senior police officers who were contesting the child with Agwu ordered her arrest on May 27, 2024, for orderly room trial and she was released afterwards.

He added that on June 10, 2024, she was rearrested for trial and released again.

“Our client informed us that on the 12th day of June, a public holiday known as Democracy Day, her sister, Agwu, faced another orderly room trial for telling the truth over a child she rescued from a mentally challenged woman,” the lawyer wrote.

He urged IGP Egbetokun to look into the matter to ascertain the truth in respect of the baby rescued from the mentally challenged woman and save Inspector Agwu from the psychological trauma she has been passing through in the state police command over her act of charity.

Spokesman for the state police command, DSP Joshua Ukandu, confirmed to our correspondent that the Inspector was facing internal disciplinary measures over the matter.

He said: “As for the policewoman, Inspector Charity Agwu, the matter is an internal process, internal disciplinary measure, and it is still ongoing. The disciplinary procedure is ongoing.”

Investigation by Daily Sun, revealed that the public relations unit of the Force Headquarters, Abuja, last week, summoned a popular blogger and social media influencer known as English Alhaji to appear before it for posting Agwu’s ordeal on his social media handle, which has been attracting condemnation by members of the public.

The social critic was subsequently released after hours of interrogation by the unit.

The Ebonyi State Police Command had slated last week Friday to pass judgement in Agwu’s orderly trials but Daily Sun gathered that it was shifted to Tuesday, August 20, 2024.