The Imo State Police Commando has arrested a secondary school teacher, Mrs Blessing Emmanuel, for dehumanising her 12-year-old stepdaughter, Amarachi Emmanuel.
Mrs Emmanuel was arrested on Tuesday following a complaint made to the police by an Owerri-based activist-journalist, Chidiebube Okeoma, at the Owerri Area Command headquarters, located in the Owerri metropolis.
The victim’s plight was brought to Okeoma’s attention by two women, Eunice and Amarachi, who saw the girl selling sachet water on the streets of Owerri with her battered body.
PUNCH Metro sighted a viral video clip posted by Okeoma on social media, where the girl was seen with bruises, scars and matchet cuts.
Confirming the arrest of the stepmother to PUNCH Metro on Thursday,
Okeoma said he took the girl to the Umuguma General Hospital in Owerri, where she is receiving intense medical attention.
The activist-journalist told PUNCH Metro, “Amarachi Emmanuel is 12 years old. Her mother died in 2018 and her father married the suspect in 2019. They live in the Nekede area of Owerri. The girl and her two siblings are out of school for years now. 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.
“The girl told me that her stepmum dehumanises them. They sell pure water for her from morning till night and mostly go 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 the Owerri Area Command Police Headquarters and got the woman arrested, immediately. In order to save the girl’s life, I took her to the Umuguma General Hospital where she was admitted. I have also enrolled her into the Imo State Health Insurance Scheme for vulnerable children in the state.
“I have involved the National Human Rights Commission, Owerri Municipal Council Welfare Department and the Imo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.”
He further said many human rights organisations had contacted him about the case. “The Owerri branch of the Nigeria Bar Association has also contacted me. Various media organisations are interested in the girl’s matter now.
“Battering of children has no place in the 21st century. The 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.
“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 will need a decent apartment once she gets back on her feet, again.
“Her laps, eyes, vagina, left leg, right hand and stomach were marked with burns and matchet cuts. Little Amarachi Emmanuel needs all of us now. Let us tell her that humanity is not wicked. There are compassionate Nigerians all over,” he stressed.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Imo State Police Command, Henry Okoye, confirmed the development, saying, “The state Commissioner of Police, Aboki Danjuma, had given a directive that the right things be done in the matter.
“When investigations are concluded, the police will do the needful to ensure that the victim gets justice.”
