State Police Commissioner inexplicably shuns protesters against police’s brutal attack on Madu
The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 13, Ukpo, Anambra State, Mr. Godwin Aghaulo, has ordered an immediate probe into the alleged brutalization of Ex-Super Falcons player and owner of a sports academy, Maureen Mmadu by the police in Anambra on the orders of the father one of the tender trainees of academy.
Daily Query reports that the AIG’s involvement followed the “inexplicable” refusal of the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Obono Nnaghe Itam, to receive protesters who had stormed the Command headquarters in Awka with placards and chanting solidarity songs against the action of police officers in carrying out the order of one citizen and brutalizing another without first carrying out a proper investigation to ascertain what transpired between the two citizens.
According to a Daily Sun report, Madu, a veteran Super Falcons striker and five-time Olympian, alongside some players of her football academy were allegedly dehumanized by security personnel following an uninvestigated petition against her by a parent.
Madu, proprietor of Maureen Kiddies Football Academy for boys and girls, while addressing journalists in Awka during the protest said a man named Uchenna handed over his daughter to her in Awka in June, 2024 for basic football training during the long holiday, which later turned into a little misunderstanding.
“When it was time for school to resume, I invited Uchenna to take his child, but he asked me to find a school and enroll her, which I turned down, saying it wasn’t my duty,” Madu said.
According to her, Uchenna abandoned his daughter with her for four months without showing up until he sent a cab driver to pick her up in late September, which she turned down citing the security situation in the State.
However, on October 9, security personnel stormed the Ozubulu Camp of the Academy, beating everyone in sight, including players, and taking Madu away in handcuffs.
Madu accused the police of acting rather rashly in that they neither investigated the allegation against her or produced a warrant for her arrest before forcing themselves into the camp, traumatizing the players, seizing their phones and finally handcuffing Ms. Madu and throwing her into their vehicle and driving away, as if they had arrested a common criminal.
“After feeding the girl for four months without the man paying any upkeep, he came with men from the Anti-Cult Unit, Ukpo. They handcuffed me like a common thief, seized my phone and those of my players, beat them, and some ended up in the hospital,” Madu agonized.
‘All I ask for is justice; my image has been severely damaged. I feel very embarrassed. The Police should return all the phones in their possession. The man who abandoned his child and petitioned against me should be investigated and made to defend his frivolous claims.”
Meanwhile, sources have described the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Obono Nnaghe Itam’s action in shunning the protesters who had stormed the command headquarters with placards as not only strange but suspicious.
“That sports academy is well known; Maureen Madu is not only from Anambra State but also a well known ex-Nigerian International. How could she be subjected to such indignity in her own State and the police Commissioner didn’t deem it fit to give her audience when she led a peaceful protest to his office against her humiliating brutalization by police officers at the instance of another citizen? It is not only strange but very suspicious?” a source said in Awka.
It was after Ms Madu felt dissatisfied with the action of the Police Commissioner that she took the protest to Zone 13, Ukpo where the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG in charge of the zone, Godwin Aghaulo ordered speedy investigation into the matter.
The AIG, through the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police AC in charge of Criminal Investigation Department, AAC CID also summoned the officers involved in the arrest and brutalization of Madu for questioning, assuring that justice would be served.
