Juliana Francis
Members of the Advocates for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network (ACVPN) have stepped into a case whereby a guardian, identified as Amaka Chukwudi, allegedly used a knife to inflict injuries on her 12 years old ward.
According to the findings, the woman has been abandoned by her husband and had four children. She allegedly used to subject the girl to cruelty involving torture.
When the child was questioned by a mandated reporter about several wounds dotting her head and body, she explained that her guardian, whom she called aunt, used to beat and attack her with a knife.
According to the mandated reporter, she and other concerned Nigerians took the victim to Ago Palace Police Station and the case was handled by the Officer in Charge of Gender Unit of the station.
The perpetrator was then arrested, and the case was transferred to the Gender Unit, Ikeja, of the Lagos State Police Command.
However, the ACVPN was alerted when it was discovered that the abuser was granted by the police and the girl returned to her abuser. This naturally irked child rights advocates and members of ACVPN, who then had to step into the case.
The mandated reporter said: “On the 19th of June 2023, I was at a bus stop, where I had gone to pick up my phone from a repairer when I noticed a girl. I know her quite well. She was carrying a gas cooker on her head, and I called her, she greeted me.
“I asked her where she was going, she said she was going home. She was coming all the way from Ago bus stop with the gas cooker on her head, heading to Fashanu Bridge, with her head broken. She has an injury on her hand.
“I asked her what happened to her hand, she claimed to have sustained injury when she fell. I told her that the wound didn’t look like it was sustained from a fall and the phone repairer said the same thing.
“The girl then said that her aunt beat her and after beating her, used a knife to stab her hand. I was shocked! She said that she didn’t steal, that anytime her aunt beats her, if she didn’t bleed, the woman wouldn’t be satisfied.
“She was crying and when people that had gathered asked if she wanted to return to her family, she said yes. I took her to the police station and handed her over to the OC human rights.
“When the child narrated her ordeal to the OC, the woman was angry, saying that the girl’s aunt would be prosecuted. I left the child with them.
“I later got information that the girl was not returned to her parents as I had hoped, rather she was returned to her aunt.
“This woman was released after all the maltreatment meted out on the girl, inflicting her with injuries and giving her food only once a day, and inflicting wounds on her head. I wanted the girl to get justice, instead, police released this abused child back to her abuser.”
The ACVPN Programmes Officer, Ms. Blessing Aderemi, who has been monitoring the case, said: “A few days later the mandated reporter was very surprised to hear that the perpetrator was never prosecuted rather the victim was returned back to the monstrous wicked woman.
“The question now is where does the victim fit in all of this? If a division could diligently apprehend such a dangerous child abuser and exploiter, the Gender unit is expected to be the finest, but the reverse was the case in this matter.
“We say a big no to this injustice because as we all know, forgiveness is a terrible sin. Justice must be duly served. Where is the Ministry of Youth and Social Development MYSD Alausa, Ikeja in all of these? Or the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs?”
It was further gathered that following an outcry from child rights advocates, the victim was finally returned to her family.
