Reverend Sister arraigned for defrauding 21 students

The Imo State Police Command has arrested and arraigned Reverend Sister Ifeanyichukwu Nwachukwu of Daughters of Mary, Mother of Mercy Congregation, Ahiaeke, to court for allegedly defrauding 21 students.

Nwachukwu, who is the principal of the School of Nursing, Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, Obowo, Imo State, was alleged to have obtained by false pretences, various sums of money averaging about N300, 000 each from 21 student nurses under the guise of allowing them to re-sit their failed Nursing and Midwifery Council Examination.

According to the statement of claims in the suit, at the Magistrate’s court, Obowo with the charge number OBM/33C/2017, before a student nurse qualifies to write the Nurses and Midwifery Council Examination, she must first write an internal final examination of the Nursing School.

The affected student nurses had passed all the internal examinations of the School of Nursing, which qualified them to write the Nurses and Midwifery Council Examination in 2015 and 2016 as the case may be.

The affected student nurses were allegedly compelled by Nwachukwu to register for the internal examination they had passed at a fee, while registering for the council examination.

The Nurses and Midwifery Council Examination re-sit for 2017 commenced on 2nd May and the plaintiffs were supposed to have participated, but were frustrated and blocked from writing the examinations by Nwachukwu after she demanded and collected money far in excess of the approved fees for the re-sit examination from 21 of the affected students.

The document read in part; “Nwachukwu, in order to frustrate the affected students, had stipulated that each person registering for the re-sit of the council’s examination must pay her the sum of N250, 000 each which is outside the approved fee for the examination which is just N80, 000. Apart from N250, 000 extorted from them by Reverend Sister Nwachukwu, she brought out other fee schedules of N80, 000 and 50,000 to be paid by the plaintiffs before they can re-sit the Council examination.”

While some of the students paid up, others couldn’t. Nwokenna Amarachi paid N330, 000; Iheukwumere Chinaecherem paid N250, 000; Nwiegbe Amarachi paid N330, 000; Obasi Comfort paid N330, 000; Osundu Chioma paid N330, 000 and Obi Anna Ezinne paid N230, 000.

The plaintiffs later understood that Nwachukwu was claiming that the number of students for the Council’s Examination was in excess of the Council’s stipulated quota. Hence, Nwachukwu had to device an elimination method by which she barred the plaintiffs from writing the examination.

After a mediation meeting by the Chaplain of the school, Father John Enyinnaya, the Principal promised to enroll the plaintiffs automatically for the 2018 council examination.

When the plaintiffs demanded Nwachukwu to put in writing the assurance that they would be enrolled for the 2018 examination, she declined.

Thus, the plaintiffs demanded a refund of their money, but Nwachukwu said it was impossible to refund money paid into her account.

The plaintiffs, among other things, are asking the court to order the payment of N10 million to each of the plaintiffs being general damages from the three defendants for failure to register the students for the examination after they had duly paid.

When the case came up for hearing, Nwachukwu pleaded not guilty. The case was adjourned till November 22, 2017 for hearing.