How Ebonyi police command reduced female cop’s rank for rescuing insane woman’s baby

From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki

Charity Agwu, a policewoman attached to the Ebonyi State Police Command, has lost her Inspector rank, which she got a few years ago when she was promoted to that position.

She lost it this July following about three years’ orderly room trial she was subjected to by the command after rescuing a newborn  baby from his mentally deranged mother in Abakaliki, the state capital, and insisted that the baby must be under her care, pending when the relatives of the mad woman would come for the baby.

The mother of five (four boys and one girl) and the police command tussled for custody of the baby and the command succeeded in taking the child.

But Charity kept insisting that she must be seeing the baby, apparently to ensure that the child was  actually in their custody, as she kept asking about the baby. The command refused to allow her see the baby and she became suspicious that the child may have been sold.

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, where she languished for months before she was released.

Charity started facing 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 future to demand for the baby.

The policewoman was tried by the state police command severally for challenging some senior police officers in the command over the matter by insisting that she must know where the baby was.

On December 2, 2022, Charity, who was a sergeant then, was on duty along the road and saw something wrapped in a black bag by a mentally challenged woman and suspected that something that needed to be salvaged must be inside the bag. She  immediately approached the woman to know what was inside the bag. It turned out to be a newborn baby and the baby was in a bad health condition.

She engaged the mentally challenged 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 the policewoman and passersby, the mentally challenged woman handed over the child to Charity who  reiterated her promise to take good care of the baby, pending when contact would be established with her family for collection of the baby.

She then took the baby to the police clinic inside the police headquarters, Abakaliki, for medical attention following the bad state of the child’s health.

While in the police clinic, a senior policewoman surfaced and requested to take over the medical treatment of the baby and custody of the child proper, which Charity refused on the ground that she had not documented the matter, in case any issue comes out of it in future.

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

Following this, Charity 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, if she was not allowed to take custody of the child.

The policewoman left the baby in  the motherless babies’ home and came back the following day to see the baby 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, asked them not to allow her to see the baby  because she was not the biological mother of the child.

The policewoman sent someone to visit the home and know if the baby was still there and the person returned and told her that the baby was no longer in the home. Charity was surprised and insisted that she must see the baby, which didn’t go down well with the senior police officers and Okah who allegedly vowed that she won’t see the baby.

Charity’s ‘stubborn approach’ on the matter brought about her orderly room trial, which she has been facing since then till date. She was arrested by 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 be kept waiting for several hours without seeing anyone.

The trial would then be shifted to another time. When the officers handling it eventually appear, she would be tried and remanded and released after some time to go home and asked to come back days later.

Consequently, her sister, Mrs. Janet Alex, sent a petition Inspector General of  Kayode Egbetokun over what Charity Agwu has been passing through. In the petition through her lawyer, Comrade Nwugo Chimere Nwugo, Alex stated: “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 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, news started making the rounds that a policewoman sold a child she took from a mentally challenged woman.”

She alleged that, to cover up the truth about the rescued baby by  her sister, the senior police officers who were struggling for the baby with her ordered her arrest on May 27, 2024,  for orderly room trial and she was released after the arrest. She 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, 2024, a public holiday known as Democracy Day, her sister, Charity, faced another orderly room trial for telling the truth over a child she rescued from a mentally challenged woman,” the lawyer wrote.

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

The state police command’s spokesperson, Joshua Ukandu,  told Daily Sun that the policewoman was facing internal disciplinary measures over the matter.

“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”, he said.

Charity’s trial was concluded last month after being posted to Ihiala Local Government Area, Anambra State police command, for special duty in Operation Restore Peace in the area. Thirty-one police officers were posted to that area with Charity being the only woman. Their posting to Anambra State was approved by Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, Adaku Uche-Anya.

Investigation revealed that Charity was not paid allowance for the special operation in Anambra. While on the special duty, her orderly trial was concluded and she was demoted to sergeant.

Charity was not given seven days to appeal the demotion in line with the police rule against any officer who didn’t commit murder or lose rifle and was tried.

According to the police rule, if such an officer like Charity is given seven days to appeal the judgment of the command on her conduct, such an officer will appeal to the Inspector General of Police, seeking justice.

When contacted, Ukandu confirmed the demotion of the policewoman. He said Charity would have been dismissed from service but for his pleading that she should not be sacked.

He accused Charity of insubordination and connivance with a social media influencer in the state, Chinyere Nwele, to tarnish the image of the state police command by alleging that the baby was been sold by the command, which was published by Nwele on her Facebook page.

Charity is paying a high price for charity.