Chinedum Treasure
The Anambra State Ministry of Women and Social Welfare has distanced itself from the activities of one of its member staff, Chinyere Nwofor accused of taking a client’s child and property and handing over to her late husband’s relatives.
The Commissioner, Mrs Ify Obinabo stated this on Tuesday during a press briefing following series of voice notes and articles which went viral in the internet alleging that Nwofor was the one involved in the incident.
She warned the public to beware of certain bad elements in the ministry who dent government’s image through their illegal activities, urging them to report such to appreciate authorities.
She said, “Chinyere is actually a staff in my ministry. On assumption, I carved out SGBV unit and deployed some staff there, with Chinyere as the Coordinating Officer.
“But at a point, I discovered she was going contrary to the mandate of the Governor which include protection of the vulnerable and giving voice to the voiceless.
“So I stopped here from working in the unit, but she went ahead working, using documents of past administration which attracted querry to her last year.
“She was involved in several shady deals, including the one trending on social media. When I invited the victim in question to find out exactly what happened, I was shocked when she mentioned the same Chinyere while narrating her story.
“I had to summon her (Chinyere) to question why she had to carry her work to a hotel. Do we now work in hotels? Her response did not make sense and I had to issue her another querry.
“Since then, she had to go out of her way to malign my office. But as a political appointee, it was not my duty to take a disciplinary actions against her. I must follow due process.
“So we had to constitute a panel. While we were on it, Zone 13 declared her wanted over the same matter and had to write the ministry officially over some other cases relating to her.
On what informed Chinyere’s deviation from the Ministry’s mandate, Obinabo said some staff of the ministry, including Chinyere, who is currently with security operatives, had not been comfortable with her style of administration which had plugged every hole of extortion.
“Before Soludo’s administration, the kind of work they were doing then was different from what we’re doing now. They had this mindset of “nothing goes for nothing”.
“When I started, I involved people who were ready to work, even as volunteers. Others were like, you mean we can’t be allowed to collect money for files, collect money for writing complaints and other matters? I said no, you don’t collect money from widows, orphans and the vulnerable. You should rather give them.
“Several of them, including Chinyere couldn’t fit in. She didn’t work up to six months before I started noticing some questionable characters in her. She kept saying they were not used to my style and I must allow them to do it their own way.
“Today, we invited her and handed her over to security operatives so she can go and answer for herself instead of dragging the ministry to the mud while the ministry continues with its own process of investigations.
“We’ve also reached out to the complainant and promised to reopen the case to ensure justice is served.”
While urging the staff to see their work as a call which must be carried out with passion, she cautioned against taking advantage of the vulnerable and less privileged who daily troup to the ministry.
“Stop exploiting the voiceless. If you have personal problems, come to me and I can help you. I wouldn’t mind going begging on your behalf. If you don’t have the passion to assist the less privileged, we can excuse you.
“You can’t hide under this administration with zero tolerance to rascality commit any kind of offence. Mr Governor is ready to disgrace you anywhere. The era of if you can’t beat them join them is over.
“Meanwhile, those taking advantage of social media to tarnish the image of people to desist forthwith.
“There’s nothing you do on earth that you don’t get reward. I know some of these persons paid to do the job. Tell those hiring you to talk about me that the person is wasting he/her time.
“By the grace of God, I’m too decent to get to that level. If I need help, I beg people and I know they’ll assist me.”
During interrogation, Mrs Nwofor however denied the allegation.
“It is true I took the client to a hotel in Nibo instead of the state office, I had my personal team comprising a lawyer from FIDA, who judged the case,” she said.
On why she never reported the case to the ministry, Nwofor claimed it skipped her mind for the past one year and apologized for the gross misconduct.
Reacting to the development, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs Chinwe Achugbu, said the said staff has been queried on several occasions regarding her illegal activities in the ministry, and as at the time of this report, a committee has been set to investigate the matter.
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