By Cajetan Mmuta
A Nigerian-United States-based businessman, Mr. Commander Ezu has petitioned the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof Kate Omenugha over alleged denial of access to his daughter, Miss Chimamanda Chukwudumebi Ezu. by management of her school in the state.
Also, he alleged abuse, molestation, and unlawful detention by the school authority in collaboration with a brother to his divorced wife and a staff of the school.
Mr. Ezu in a petition written on his behalf by his lawyer, Dr. Jude Okoye, and made available to newsmen in Awka the state capital on Friday, said the school’s refusal to grant him access to his daughter came to him as a surprise, particularly, after acknowledging his position as the biological father of the child.
The petition is titled; “Petition against the abuse, molestation, attempted murder, denial of legitimate access to the child, public assault and conspiracy to commit a crime on Commander Ezu by the management of Assured Tender Care, Mr. Kenechukwu Nwankwo, and Emmanuel Obiekwe.”
According to the lawyer, “Our client had returned to Nigeria in March 2020 and visited his daughter in school with gift items, but to his surprise, the school refused him(Ezu) to see his daughter, instead, they kept him for an hour inside the school to get permission from his former wife’s brother, before they will give him access to his daughter.”
“Indeed, our client informed us that the school management told him that there was an instruction to them not to allow him access to his daughter, Miss Chimamanda Chukwudumebi Ezu.”
“Sadly enough, the management shows that our client is the biological father and has been visiting the child alone in school, and with the mother, including bringing school items to her and other pupils without problems.”
He called on the Commissioner of Education to set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the matter, insisting that appropriate sanctions should be meted out to the school to forestall reoccurrence and deterioration of the highly rated school system in the state.
In its reaction, management of the Assured Tender Care dismissed the allegations as untrue, describing the school as too reputable to be involved in such activities.
One of the staff who spoke on condition of anonymity as she was not authorized to speak to the press, admitted that the complainant was disallowed from seeing the pupil.
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She said, “We are a reputable school in Anambra, and there is no way someone who did not keep a child in our care will come and request to see the child. We don’t do that. We have a duty to protect our children.
“I witnessed what happened that day. It was the man who was even constituting a nuisance here, but we begged him to go home and wait for the daughter instead of coming to school. This place is for learning, we don’t even let parents come here to see their children during lesson hours, not to talk of someone we don’t know.”
