Operatives of the Imo State Police Command have arrested a teacher, Mrs Blessing Emmanuel for alleged dehumanisation of her step-daughter, a 12-year-old Amarachi, in Owerri, the state capital.
Mrs Emmanuel was arrested on Tuesday, following the complaint made by an Owerri-based activist and journalist, Chidiebube Okeoma at the Owerri Area Command headquarters.
Little Amarachi’s plight became public knowledge after two ladies discovered how badly she was battered and queried why she was hawking pure water with her wounds.
Already, the video clip of Amarachi and her younger sister with bruises, scars, and cuts has been trending on social media, even as the stepmother’s teacher was condemned for her acts.
Okeoma who shared the children’s plight confirmed that Mrs Emmanuel had been arrested following her actions which were corroborrated by neighbours in Nekede in the Owerri North local government area of the state. Amarachi and her sister were receiving treatment at the Umuguma Specialist Hospital, Owerri for the wounds, even as they underwent eye treatment to save them from blindness as their eyes were badly battered.
Little Amarachi disclosed that their father had suffered a stroke and was bedridden which made him unable to defend them from the abuses of their stepmother.
She added that her biological mother died in 2018, after which the current Mrs Blessing married their father to tend to her and two other siblings.
Okeoma disclosed that the three children had been out of school for over three years and made to hawk pure water on an empty stomach.
She disclosed that the children were brutally beaten for eating before the return of their stepmother to the house. He said, “The girl told me that her stepmom dehumanises them. They sell pure water for her from morning till night and mostly goes to bed hungry. The latest battering was because the girl said she cooked rice and ate without the woman’s permission and on getting home, the woman battered her.
“I took the girl to Owerri Area Command and got the woman immediately arrested. To save the girl’s life, I took her to Umuguma General Hospital where she was admitted. I have also enrolled her on the Imo State Health Insurance Scheme for vulnerable children in the state.
“Amarachi Emmanuel is 12 years old. Her mother died in 2018 and his father married the suspect in 2019. They live in the Nekede area of Owerri. The girl and her two siblings have been currently out of school for years now because the woman commanded them to be hawking sachet water for her every day and be making returns to her while their mates are in school.
“Already, I have involved the National Human Rights Commission, the Owerri Municipal Council Welfare Department and the Imo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. Yes, many human rights organisations have also contacted me in regards to this case. The Owerri branch of the Nigeria Bar Association has also contacted me, even as various media organisations are interested in the girl’s matter now”, Okeoma said.
According to him, police had commenced an investigation saying, “Battering of children has no place in the 21st century. Police are investigating and I request that the woman be arraigned. The woman turned the girl and her siblings into slaves, simply because their mother is late and their father is medically unstable”.
Further, he appealed to kind-spirited people to assist in the return of the children to school and decent homes saying, “I want to get the girl and her siblings off the streets. My idea is to enrol her and her siblings in a school. Currently, they live in a shanty. They need a decent apartment once she gets back on her feet, again.
“Her thighs, eyes, genitals, left leg, right hand and stomach were battered with burns and machete cuts. Little Amarachi Emmanuel needs all of us now. Let us tell her that humanity is not wicked. There are compassionate Nigerians all over.”
Meanwhile, when contacted, the spokesperson for the police in the state, Henry Okoye, disclosed that the state Commissioner of Police, Aboki Danjuma, had ordered that the right things be done in the matter.
