Police in Enugu arrested student nurse Joy Ezeugwu on Monday as she was writing a statement at the Police Force Headquarters Annex, FCID, in response to a petition filed by Ifeyinwa Peace Okwudu. The petition seeks N10 million in damages and accuses Ezeugwu of secretly recording a private staff meeting and sharing the footage online.
Alex Onyia said Ezeugwu was “currently writing a statement responding to claims made by Ifeyinwa Peace Okwudu in her petition” and added that Okwudu was “doing everything to destroy Joy but it will fail.” He also said the petition demands N10 million for emotional and psychological damage, while describing Okwudu as “such a tyrant and must be dealt with.”
The arrest follows a video Ezeugwu posted in late March during a night shift at Uwani General Hospital in Enugu that exposed failing conditions inside the facility. The footage showed no electricity or running water, no oxygen supply, no cleaning staff and no fumigation during the shift, while health workers spoke on camera about the strain on patient care.
The video spread in April and triggered punishment from her training institution. Ezzy College of Nursing suspended Ezeugwu indefinitely from clinical duties five days after the post, and a later account said the college expelled her in April. Ezeugwu also said, “I am so broken,” and, “I didn't know my goodness would be punishing me so badly.”
Okwudu has alleged the video was recorded without consent during a private staff meeting in her office. She said attendees were told to leave their mobile phones behind and claimed Ezeugwu denied carrying a recording device but hid one in her bag to capture the proceedings.
The dispute has already altered the conditions that first brought Ezeugwu attention. The Enugu State Government moved quickly after the video, electricity at the hospital was restored within days and the problems she exposed were fixed. What remains now is the cost of speaking out: Ezeugwu is facing police questioning, while the petition turns a viral warning about public health into a fight over secrecy, consent and punishment inside the state’s nursing system.
On Monday, that fight was no longer online. It was at the police desk in Enugu, where a student nurse who tried to document a failing hospital was forced to answer for the way she did it.
