Anambra government reacts as permanent secretary is accused of beating HoD to coma

The Anambra State Government, on Sunday, August 25, reacted to the fight and alleged “strangulation” that occured between the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs Chinwe Achugbu and one of the Heads of Department, simply identified as Mrs Nkem.

Achugbu is one of the new permanent secretaries appointed in March 2024 by the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.

The fight between both women reportedly happened at work on Thursday, August 15, during an argument over a yet-to-be-disclosed matter.

During the fight, Mrs Chigbu is alleged to have strangled Mrs Nkem, thereby putting her in a coma.

According to reports, the fight, which took place at the state ministry located at Dora Akunyili Development Centre, required the intervention of the state commisoner of Women Affairs Mrs Ify Obinabo for temporal peace to be restored between the two senior staff.

However, the injury inflicted on the HoD was so severe that she had to be the rushed to the Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (aka Amaku General Hospital) for emergency treatment to save her life.

Sources allege that physical assault among staff in the ministry has occured multiple times.

Meanwhile, the Head of Service, Theodora Igwegbe, told Punch that she was aware of a reported fight at the ministry through social media but had yet to officially be briefed on what happened.

Igwegbe vowed to take action after an investigation and findings had been concluded on the matter.

She said: “I saw the report on social media on Friday, August 23, 2024. I have not received a formal report against the Permanent Secretary in question as provided by Section 7, Chapter 10 of the Public Service Rules (2021).
 

“That notwithstanding, I have started asking questions to ascertain what happened while I await a formal report, which should be the beginning of a process.”