Anambra State Government has confirmed the freedom of four children forcefully taken away from their mother and kept under lock and key for nine months in Worliwor community in Onitsha area of the State.
The victims were reportedly rescued on Friday by security officers led by officials of the State Ministry of Women and Social Welfare following complaints by their mother, Chinenye Orajiaka to the ministry.
Confirming the incident in a press statement over the weekend, Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, media aide to the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, said the children were found by the operatives in a room under lock and key, which made rescue efforts difficult.
Orajiaka had accused her sister-in-law, Ndidi of forcefully detaining her children and refusing her access to them, after separation from her husband.
The statement partly reads, “According to the complainant, the whole issue started when her husband, Izuchukwu Orajiaka, separated from her and took the children away while they were still in Lagos.
“She noted that since then, she had been going around looking for her four children without knowing that they had been sent to live with her sister-in-law who had been maltreating them for nine months.
“She explained that all efforts to get her children had not been fruitful until she came to the ministry and got results.
“When the officials and security operatives got to the place, the kids were excited to see their mother and pleaded that they be taken away from there.
“Meanwhile the culprit denied maltreating the children and said they only look unkempt because they are lazy.”
On their part, the rescued children disclosed they had not been going to school for nine months since they started living with their auntie.
“We’ve been the ones doing all the domestic chores in the house, including fetching water from a long distance and washing our auntie’s clothes. Yet, we ate our breakfast late.”
Responding shortly after receiving the children, Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, decried height of wickedness meted out on the children, especially in view of their “unkempt and malnourished appearance”.
She restated that Governor Soludo-led administration abhorred rascality and prioritised the affairs of children, calling on everyone who has in one way or another been involved in maltreating children to desist forthwith or face the consequences.
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