Women Group Urges Police to Prosecute Ex-NAWOJ Leader Over N5m Fraud

Posted by African Examiner Enugu, Featured, Ignatius Okpara, Latest Headlines, News Wednesday, April 1st, 2020

From Ignatius Okpara, Enugu

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Enugu state chapter of a non- governmental organisation, NGO) Women for Women (WFW), has dragged a former State and South- East zonal Chairperson of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, (NAWOJ) Mrs. Chieso Aninwagwa to the police over alleged misappropriation of the organisation’s N5 million naira.

In a petition addressed to the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ahmad Abdurraham, and made available to African Examiner on Tuesday, the women group, are demanding for the immediate trial and prosecution of the suspect.

The organization, in the petition written through its lawyer, Barrister Chukwunonso Daniel Ogbe, dated March 27, 2020, with the title: “Request to prosecute a suspect in court,” alleged that Aninwagwa who was former chairperson of the WFW in Enugu state was doing everything to truncate the investigation of the New Haven Police Division which indicted her on the matter.

According to the petition, the group wants “the matter to be taken to court for Aninwagwa to be prosecuted for her obvious nefarious deed,”even as it discovered that she “has further embarked on steps, aimed towards subverting the course of justice and drawing the attention of your officers and men away from the illegality which she perpetrated while she held sway as the chairperson of the organisation.”

The group’s Solicitor further stated in the petition that the Secretary General of the organization, Ochiora Amaka Okonkwo, had briefed him that “the erstwhile Chairperson of our Client, being Mrs Chieso Aninwagwa misappropriated the sum N5,000,000 belonging to our client without just cause.

“Our client had earlier lodged a formal complaint against Mrs Chieso Aninwagwa, with the New Haven Police Station and the matter thoroughly investigated and concluded by the New Heaven Police Station in a professional manner.

The petition added: “Our client reasonably believes that Mrs Chieso Aninwagwa admitted having misappropriated the sum of Five Million Naira Only (N5,000,000.00) belonging to our client in the course of the criminal complaint being entertained and investigated by the New Haven Police Station.

“Surprisingly, as our client awaited the matter to be taken to Court for Mrs Chieso Aninwagwa to be prosecuted for her obvious nefarious deed, our client discovered that Mrs Chieso has further embarked on steps, aimed towards subverting the course of justice and drawing the attention of your officers and men away from the illegality which she perpetrated as afore-described.

“The assertion made in this regard is hinged on the fact that our client reasonably believes that Mrs Chieso Aninwagwa is working hand in glove with some highly connected personalities in the country, in order not to be arraigned in court to face trial; by making moves to present a fresh petition bordering on the misappropriated funds of our Client to the higher echelon of the Nigerian Police Force over the matter that has already been investigated in its entirety by the New Haven Police Station.

“Accordingly, we most respectfully urge you to direct your officers and men at the New Haven Police Station who investigated the criminal allegation that was brought against Mrs Chieso Aninwagwa, to charge Mrs Chieso Aninwagwa to Court to face criminal trial, based on the investigation which the New Haven Police Station had earlier carried out and concluded over the matter.

“The modest demand of our Client in this regard is hinged on the fact that Mrs Chieso Aninwagwa is determined to retract from the admission of the commission of the criminal allegation leveled against her, which admission we reasonably believe she made in the course of her being investigated at New Haven Police Station,” the petition read.

When contacted for her reaction, Aninwagwa denied the allegations, saying that she was not part of the disbursement of the said funds.

Although, she admitted that the matter was being handled by the police in the state. adding that “as far as I am concerned, i did not misappropriate any money. They were the people that disbursed the money.

“The programme took place in Sept. 1, 2018 and if there was any problem we ought to have heard about it before now. Few people just gathered and conspired to say that we did not agree on something which does not concern W4W,” she claimed.