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POLICE INSPECTOR IN EBONYI COMMAND ALLEGEDLY FACES PERSECUTION FOR DOING GOOD.

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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.

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Lagos Court Jails Man Three Months for Non-Declaration of $30,000 at Airport

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Justice Deinde I. Dipeolu of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, convicted and sentenced Okunfulure Olusola Steve to three Months imprisonment for money laundering.

The convict was arrested on March 28, 2025 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, for false currency declaration to the tune of $30,0000.

The NCS had, on Friday, March 28, 2025, handed him over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Okotie Eboh, Ikoyi, Lagos for further investigations.

Consequently, he was arraigned on Wednesday on one-count charge bordering on money laundering.

The count reads: “That you, Okunfulure Olusola Steve, on the 28th day of March, 2025 in Lagos, within the Jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, failed to make a declaration of the sum of $20,000 (Twenty Thousand United States Dollars) to the Nigerian Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, and thereby committed an offence Contrary to and Punishable under Section 3(5) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

The defendant pleaded “guilty” to the charge when it was read to him.

Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, C.C. Okezie called on Felicia Paul, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the case.

 

Paul, while giving details of how she knew the defendant, told the court that the NCS handed him over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC on Friday, March 28, 2025.

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Paul also told the court that the defendant was arrested with the sum of $30,000, which he failed to declare. She further told the court that “ his statement was recorded under caution and was served with the bail conditions.”

Thereafter, she identified the defendant’s statement, the handing-over note from the NCS, the arresting officer’s statement as well as the sum of $30,000(Thirty Thousand US Dollars) to the EFCC.

Okozie then sought to tender, in evidence, the documents.

Justice Dipeolu admitted and marked them as exhibits 1,2,3 and 4 and held that “ I have read the exhibits, the statement of the defendant, and I found him guilty. He is accordingly convicted as charged.”

Okezie thereafter prayed that the undeclared sum of $20,000 be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria and that the defendant be jailed.

Defence counsel, Joel Ogundere, while addressing the court, said that the defendant “is a first-time offender and is not aware of the disclosure policy . He is a family man and has responsibilities. His bank account shows the legitimacy of the funds.”

He also prayed the court to “ magnanimously waive any prison sentence”, adding that the convict would not mind forfeiting the sum of money or pay a fine.

Justice Dipeolu convicted and sentenced the defendant to three months imprisonment, with effect from the date of his arrest on March 28,2025. The Judge also ordered that the money be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Steve, a departing passenger on Delta Airline to Atlanta, United States had declared that he was not in possession of any sum of money in foreign currency but in Naira, while being profiled at the Currency Declaration Desk.

However, the sum of $30,000 undeclared was found on him during a search conducted by operatives of the NCS.

He was subsequently handed over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC for further investigations, a development that led to his arraignment and conviction.

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Nigerians in US to protest at White House over emergency rule in Rivers State

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A coalition of Nigerian activists in the United States, under the Democratic Movement, DM, has called on global leaders, the United Nations and the African Union to intervene in what it described as a blatant attack on democracy in Rivers State.

The pro-democracy movement also announced a planned rally at the United States White House to protest the declaration of emergency rule in the oil-rich state.

The coalition is demanding the reversal of the emergency rule imposed on Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, the reinstatement of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and the restoration of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The group also called on President Donald Trump to engage with Nigerian authorities and call for the immediate restoration of constitutional order.

A statement, on Thursday by the Coalition, signed by Cosmos Achief, its President, said the protest to the US white house aims to draw global attention to the “direct assault on democracy and the will of the people.”

The statement read, “We cannot sit back while an elected governor is removed, an entire legislature is suspended, and an unelected administrator is imposed. These are dangerous precedents that threaten Nigeria’s democracy,” he said.

The coalition said the protest will take place in Washington, D.C., with demonstrators marching to the White House and the U.S. Department of State to submit petitions demanding international intervention.

“The world needs to see what is happening in Rivers State. A democratically elected government has been suspended under the guise of emergency rule. We are urging President Donald Trump to engage with Nigerian authorities and call for the immediate restoration of constitutional order,” the statement added.

“The president must understand that his actions could lead to serious diplomatic consequences. This move is a step toward dictatorship, and Nigeria risks facing international sanctions if democratic principles are not respected,” Achief warned.

The demonstration is expected to draw the attention of Nigerians in the diaspora, civil rights activists, and supporters of democracy who share concerns about governance in Nigeria.

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Former President Muhammadu Buhari sends his heartfelt condolences to the family of the of Alhaji Abbas Sunusi, Galadiman Kano, who passed away yesterday.

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Former President Muhammadu Buhari has extended his heartfelt condolences to the family of Alhaji Abbas Sunusi, the Galadiman Kano, who passed away yesterday.

In a gesture of solidarity, Buhari also offered his sympathies to the Kano Emirate Council, the government, and the people of Kano State.

This move is reminiscent of Buhari’s previous condolences to the people and government of Kano State, following the passing of notable figures such as Alhaji Ibrahim El-Yakub, a former Federal Commissioner of Water Resources

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