The Anambra State Ministry of Women Affairs has been enmeshed in an attempted murder scandal.
The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs. Chinwe Achugbu, was accused of nearly strangling the Head of Department of the ministry, identified as Mrs. Nkem, over an undisclosed office issue.
It was gathered that after some seconds of altercation between the two female civil servants, Achugbu held on to the throat of her junior colleague in a bid to terminate her life before the public glare.
Nkem, who was gasping for breath in the hands of the Permanent Secretary could no longer have a firm grip of Achugbu whom she had earlier held in his hands as she started losing strength owing to the strangulation.
The incident, which took place recently at the Dora Akunyili Development Centre, necessitated the intervention of the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Ify Obinabo, to temporarily restore peace between the two senior officials.
However, the injuries inflicted on Nkem were so severe that she was rushed to the Chief Ọdụmegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (commonly known as Amaku General Hospital) for emergency treatment to save her life.
A source in the ministry revealed that this was not the first time Mrs. Achugbu exhibited brutal physical aggression towards her subordinates.
Many staff members are said to have been living in fear of these incidents and are hesitant to report the Permanent Secretary’s actions because of potential victimization.
“It happened. Everything in that story is true. This is not hearsay; I was there that day, and everything occurred right in front of me,” a source confirmed.
Recall that Mrs. Achugbu was appointed as one of the new Permanent Secretaries by Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
When the Permanent Secretary was reached for comments, she declined, stating that she was forbidden to speak as a person under authority. She directed The Point to “go and ask the Head of Service.”
When contacted, the Head of Service, Mrs. Theodora Igwegbe, acknowledged seeing a post about the incident on social media but stated that she had not yet received any official report regarding it.
“Apart from seeing that post on social media this afternoon, nobody has written or informed me about it officially, and I was in my office until about 7 p.m. today.
“So, at the time we left the office around 7 p.m., there was still no official report regarding that incident; I had cleared my desk, and there were no documents left unattended. This indicates that there was no such report on my table,” the Head of Service said.
