By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Former Super Falcons star striker Maureen Madu is seeking justice over alleged dehumanisation which she suffered in the hands of police operatives in Anambra State.

Madu, who spoke to sports journalists on Sunday in Awka, the state capital, said she was arrested in handcuffs following an uninvestigated petition against her by a parent

Narrating her ordeal, the ex-footballer said: “One man, Uchenna handed his daughter over to me in Awka in June this year for basic training in football in my camp during the long holiday.

“I invited the man to come to the camp where the girl was to see how she was fairing several times but he declined and never visited. He rather sent money for purchase of her needs including underwear and sanitary pads.

“When it was time for school resumption, I invited Uchenna to come and take her child, but he rather asked me to look for a school and enroll the child but I turned it down, telling him it was not my duty.

“That was how this man abandoned his daughter with me for four months without showing up until he sent a cab driver to come and pick and take her home but the girl said she was not going to join because she did not know the driver, that was late September.”

According to the round football entrepreneur who runs a grassroots football academy, she didn’t hear from the man until October 9 when security personnel stormed the Ozubulu Camp of the Academy, beating up everybody in sight including the players and taking her away in handcuffs.

Showing the petition against her, Madu said the officers beat players with gun butts, took their phones and smashed them and left some of them wounded and in the pool of their own blood.

The petition signed by B.B.M. Maduekwe Esq dated Oct. 7, 2024 was entitled a case of “Armed Gangsterism, Cultism. Attempt Murder Child Trafficking And Threat To Life”. Maureen Madu disclosed that the police personnel neither investigated the allegations nor came with any warrant. She lamented that they forced themselves into the camp, traumatised the players, seized their phones, handcuffed her like a common criminal and threw her into their vehicle.

After feeding the girl for four months without paying any upkeep, we went to bring men from Anti Cult Unit, Ukpo.

She said: “They handcuffed me like a common thief, seized my phone and those of my players, they beat them and some of them ended up in hospital.

“All I ask for justice, my image has been severely damaged, I feel very embarrassed, the Police should return all the phones in their possession.

“The man who abandoned his child and petitioned against me should be investigated and made to defend his frivolous claims.”