A man, Uche Mbonu, and his wife, Peace, have been arrested over alleged child abuse, starvation, and refusal to provide family needs for their five underage boys in Osumenyi, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The suspects were arrested by security operatives and handed over to the police through the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo.
Narrating their ordeal, the oldest of the kids, Chigbo Mbonu, who revealed that Peace is his father’s third wife, said they had suffered untold hardship since she came into their family.
“My father had married two wives before finally marrying my stepmother, who is his salesgirl.
“We feed once a day for the days our stepmother will give us food. That’s why we rely on raw rice and palm kernels after hunger has severely dealt with us.
“At some point, I stopped schooling because I helped my father in his block industry. I mould blocks with 4 bags of cement on a bad day and 6 bags on normal days,” 17-year-old Chigbo lamented.
The suspects, during interrogation, however, denied the allegation, accusing the kids of always eating raw rice.
“We didn’t starve the kids. We always feed them, but they prefer eating raw rice, an attitude we don’t know where they learned it from,” Mbonu claimed.
According to the security operatives, Peace, before her arrest, had fled to Nnewi, her maternal home, to take cover following her husband’s arrest.
Reacting, Commissioner Obinabo described the act as condemnable, saying close examination indicated that the victims had suffered severe hunger.
She said the suspects had since been handed over to the police for further investigation and prosecution.
“The Soludo-led APGA government will continue to ensure that child labour, abuse, and all forms of maltreatment are reduced to the barest minimum,” she added.
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