Ebonyi Family Petitions NAPTIP Over Disappearance of Baby Rescued by Policeman

The family of Police Inspector Charity Agwu has petitioned the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons to investigate the disappearance of a baby boy she helped rescue from his mentally challenged mother.

Inspector Agwu found the baby on December 2, 2022, and reported the incident to the Ebonyi State Police Command, which then contacted the state Ministry of Women Affairs. The ministry took the baby to a motherless babies’ home in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

However, the baby’s whereabouts became unknown, and Inspector Agwu is being suspected of involvement in his disappearance. Her family denies these allegations and seeks NAPTIP’s assistance in tracing and retrieving the baby.

In a petition dated July 21, 2024, addressed to NAPTIP’s Director General, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, the family narrated the events leading to the baby’s disappearance.They explained that Inspector Agwu had been denied access to the baby after he was transferred to the motherless home and that his current location remains unknown.

The family is seeking NAPTIP’s help in investigating the circumstances surrounding the baby’s disappearance and ensuring his safety. The petition with reference number RCAA/DG/Vol.our 06/21/2024 and titled ‘A Case of a Child  (Baby Boy) Rescued from a Mentally Challenged Woman by Insp. Charity Agwu Along Centenary City Road, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State On 2nd day of December 2022: A Call for Thorough and Discrete Investigation to Unravel the Whereabouts of the Child and his Custody,’ obtained on Monday by our correspondent, which was written at the instance of Mrs Janet Alex and Chinyere Nwele, elder sisters of Inspector Charity Agwu on behalf of themselves and their family, narrated how Charity rescued the said baby on December 2, 2022, reported the case to the Central Police Station covering the area the child was rescued from, but the circumstances were neither recorded nor the matter incidented.The petition reads in part, “We are solicitors to Mrs Janet Alex and Chinyere Nwele for themselves and on behalf of an unknown mentally challenged woman with her baby boy whose whereabouts and custody are unknown, hereinafter referred to as our client.

“Under their firm instruction, we write as hereunder clearly stated: That Mrs. Janet Alex, the senior sister of Insp. Charity Agwu informed us that she visited her younger sister, detained on Monday, the 10th day of June 2024 at the SWAT Office of the Ebonyi State Command and whose orderly trial commenced on Wednesday 12th day of June 2024 on the knowledge of an allegation against her of stealing the child of mental.”

“That on the 2nd day of December 2022, her younger sister, Inspector Charity Agwu, then a Sergeant, went out to eat from her duty beat at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on a bike she boarded heading for Covenant Road around 4:00 pm where she saw a mentally challenged woman carrying something wrapped with a black waterproof.

“That she curiously and reasonably suspected, being a professionally intelligent officer and responsible mother, that what the mentally challenged woman was carrying wrapped in a black waterproof bag during that harmattan period could be a baby…

“Our client informed us that the mentally challenged woman seeing her younger sister Charity Agwu in uniform as a police officer out of fear pleaded with Charity not to hurt her and she promised not to and then requested her to release the baby to her.

“Our client informed us that her sister on inquiry from the mentally challenged woman where she hails from she burst into laughter and continued pleading with our client’ sister not to hurt her.“That conversation between her and our client’s sister attracted the attention of passersby who were curious and very anxious to know what was going on between the mentally challenged woman carrying a baby wrapped in a waterproof bag and Sgt. Charity Agwu in police uniform gathered around them.“She was pleading with the mentally challenged woman to release the baby to her to take care of while concerted efforts would be made to find out where she hails from to enable her to contact her relatives to come and identify her and take custody of the baby.

“That arrangement was also made to take her to a psychiatric hospital for medical intervention as she sounds a little bit sane. “On leaving the scene, our client’s sister moved straight away to the Central Police Station, Abakaliki, covering the area to incident the matter officially for proper documentation and records, where she met some of her colleagues and narrated her story and encounter with the said mentally challenged woman, the biological mother of the child she was carrying.

“She met the DCO, Kenneth Owo (now retired) at the CPS, who drew the attention of DSP Ngozi Ugbala O/C Juvenile Welfare Centre and asked Charity to narrate her story in respect of her encounter with a mentally challenged woman, the biological mother of the child she was carrying which she did.

“After narrating the entire episode to them in the presence of some of her other colleagues, our client’s sister met a brick wall, as DSP Ngozi Ugbala refused to incident and document the matter and record her statement, but rather directed her to take the child to the Ebonyi State Police Command to her greatest chagrin, embarrassment and disappointment.

“Thereafter, they said she rushed to the Ebonyi State Police Command at her expense where she fortunately saw the DPO, CSP Adeyemi Mutala in charge of the CPS, Abakaliki and narrated her story, again the matter was recorded.Instead, the DPO took them to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Robert Clement in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department before she narrated the story of her encounter with the mentally challenged woman, the mother of the child she was carrying.“After commending her sister for her compassion, empathy, kindness and effort in trying to save the life of the baby whose health was not quite sound, having been exposed to the vagaries of harmattan made precarious by the dirty water from the gutter he has been fed with by her mother, the DCP sent his orderly to call the O/C Juvenile Welfare Centre, DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya, who she asked to take them to the Police Clinic for immediate medical attention to the child.”

The petition noted that at the clinic, Charity met CSP Bridget Onuoha and other staff in charge of the Police Clinic as directed, who prescribed medication for the child and asked her to go and purchase them to be administered to the baby and avoid deterioration of his health condition.

It added, “That DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya told her sister not to bother about purchasing the medication but rather sent one of his aides by name W/Inspr. Maureen Ezeogo is to purchase the same as prescribed to be administered to the baby.

“That after administration of the medication (injection) to the child, DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya ordered her sister to hand over the child to her aide, W/Inspr. Maureen Ezeogo, but she refused. Her refusal to hand over the child as ordered by DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya irked her leading to an altercation…

“After his circumcision, the petitioner noted that on Sunday the 4th day of December 2022, Charity got a phone call from an unknown and unidentifiable number informing her that he was calling on behalf of DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya, O/c JWC.

“The caller located her sister in the company of a woman suspected to be his wife but refused to disclose their identity and informed her that Loveth Uche Ogboya sent them to see her in respect of the said child and to inform her of the interest of Loveth Uche Ogboya, since her sister has children already and requested her to give the baby to Loveth Uche, which request our client’s sister turned down and they left feeling disappointed.“Our client’s sister also informed us that on Monday the 5th day of December 2022 Loveth Uche Ogboya met her at the State Police Command and asked her to go with her to see the Deputy Commissioner of Police then, to determine the fate of the baby, but her sister wondered aloud why Loveth Uche Ogboya was hell-bent on taking the baby away from her by all means fair or foul using intimidation.“It is also the information of our client’s sister that Loveth Uche Ogboya got infuriated arguing that her sister would not dare tell her what to do about the child, being her superior officer and the person in charge who has the final say, which did not go well with her sister who had been in the custody of taking care of the child and so went back to her office.

“Our client further informed us that no sooner had her sister entered her office, one ASP Grace Ogbusua came to her demanding the child from her and his whereabouts and asked her why she left the child in her house, a child her sister signed an undertaking to have custody and take care of.

“Our client’s sister simply asked ASP Grace Ogbusua what was her stake in the child she rescued from his mother. ASP Ogbusua became visibly aggressively angry with her and threatened to twist the matter against her in favour of Loveth Uche Ogboya which her sister would consequently regret when the chips would be down and which is playing out now.

“To make good her threat for reasons best known to her, ASP Grace Ogbusua immediately went to the Deputy Commissioner of Police Robert Clement and after a lengthy discussion which lasted a couple of hours, her sister was invited to interview the Deputy Commissioner of Police.”

The petition stated further that unfortunately, the DCP became aggressive with her and ordered her detention for insubordination.

However, when the Commissioner of Police came into the picture and asked her why she refused to take and obey lawful instruction from her superior officer whereupon she narrated the story comprehensively with “lurid details of her encounter with the said mentally challenged woman, the biological mother of the child in question, which she signed an undertaking to have custody of the child at Police clinic.”The CP later directed that she should take the child to the Ministry of Women Affairs for proper documentation.

Source: Punch