Women from Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State have placed a ₦1 million bounty on an Anambra woman, Adachukwu Okafor, who reportedly brutalised her 11-year-old household.
Operating under the auspices of the Umuada Awgu Global Association (UAGA), the group also issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Okafor to hand herself over to the police.
The Founder and President of UAGA, Chinemerem Anyi, announced the financial reward for any informant on the fleeing woman’s whereabouts at the group’s news briefing on the matter on Thursday in Enugu.
According to Anyi, anybody who avails the police, Anambra State Government, or other relevant authorities with useful information that can lead to the woman’s arrest will smile home with ₦1 million from the group.
She said that Okafor, who hails from Anambra and lived in Onitsha, was accusing the victim of touching the private part of her eight-year-old daughter while bathing her.
Anyi, who was flanked at the briefing by other members of the group, said “It beats our imagination that almost three weeks after the woman perpetrated the evil act, the police were still saying that she is still at large”.
She said that the organisation was beginning to smell a rat, “going by the manner the matter was being handled by the Anambra Police Command”.
She said that the group also issued the police a 48-hour ultimatum to apprehend the perpetrator or incur its wrath. She said: “The Awgu women have been resisting the temptation of taking the law into our hands over the matter as civilised people but we warn that such calm disposition should not be taken for granted or weakness.
“We are heartbroken over the barbaric act and today, we gathered for this important press briefing over the recent brutalisation of our daughter, Miss Happiness Nwafor, by her wicked madam.
“We are using this platform to call on the woman to better submit herself to the police or other relevant authorities because no matter where she is, she will be fished out.
“Our searchlight is on you and we will not rest until justice is served on this matter,” Anyi said.
The group urged the police and Anambra Government to, as a matter of urgency, employ every arsenal to apprehend the woman, saying that it was being pushed to the wall over the issue.
“Okafore has murdered sleep and cannot sleep, she has bitten more than she can chew,” it also said.
The group, therefore, called on mothers to bear the number of children they could care for, to avoid giving out their underaged children as house help. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group had on February 7, staged a peaceful protest in Enugu, demanding justice for the victim.
In a related development, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development on Tuesday announced a ₦2 million reward for any person with useful information on the woman’s whereabouts. Okafor allegedly brutalised her house help, Happiness Nwafor, whom she brought in January to live with her.
She was reported to have inserted a hot knife into the minor’s private part and also burned her face and buttock with a hot electric iron. Meanwhile, the Anambra Police Command has declared the woman, who is said to be at large, wanted.