In response to allegations that Mr. Confidence Amatobi assaulted his 2-month-old baby, Miracle, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Imo State chapter of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) have urged the Imo State government and the Nigeria Police Force to detain and charge Amatobi right away.
Little Miracle’s arm was broken after allegedly being attacked by Mr. Amatobi with a plastic hanger for disturbing his sleep.
At the Federal Medical Centre, FMC Owerri, the shattered arm was amputated as a result of the tragedy.
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In Owerri, the capital of Imo State, NAWOJ, NHRC, and the resentful mother of baby Miracle voiced the appeal for justice.
After visiting the boy with his hand amputated at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Owerri, Imo State NAWOJ Chairperson Dr. Dorothy Nnaji confirmed that the boy’s right hand had to be amputated due to an injury perpetrated by his 31-year-old father, an Isu LGA local from Amurie.
Mrs. Nnaji, who scowled at Mr. Amatobi’s heinously cruel deed, expressed disbelief that a parent could hit his defenceless child just because the latter was weeping and disrupting the latter’s sleep.
She revealed that Mr. Amatobi was accused of repeatedly hitting the infant with a plastic hanger until his right hand fractured in an effort to stop him from wailing.
Mr. Confidence Amatobi, the culprit, is from Amurie in Isu L.G.A. He hit the infant with a plastic hanger because the mother had left him wailing while she had a break. When he observed that the baby’s hand was broken and swollen, he tied it with wood and elastic bands, according to Mrs. Nnaji.
“He locked the mother and baby to prevent her from talking to neighbours or seeking help. He also took her phone from her. After two days she found her way out and sought help from her neighbours. The guy was arrested by a vigilante but he escaped. By the time help came, the baby’s hand was already decayed. The only option was to cut off baby Miracle’s right hand from shoulder,”
“I feel for the 20 year old Favor Chikwe who is too young to go through all this stress just because she went to easy herself. I am calling on lmo State Judiciary and all spirited individuals and Government to give justice to this innocent boy whose only crime was that he cried like any other baby.” she added.
Similarly, the Imo State Coordinator NHRC, Mrs Ukachi Ukah, while reacting to the incident also condemned the brutality and insisted that justice must be allowed to take its course.
Narrating her ordeal, the mother of Miracle, Mrs Favour Chikwe, 20, who hails from Idemili Community, Anambra State disclosed that she had left Miracle with his father on Friday, October 7, 2022, to use the convenience, when the incident happened.
Favour recalled that she overheard her baby crying uncontrollably and had to rush back to know the cause of her cry only for her to discover that his right hand was swollen and bone broken from the beating he received from his father.
Amatobi, it was learnt, confessed that the baby was disturbing him with his cry while he was sleeping and he had to try to stop him by battering him.
“Upon noticing that he has broken the baby’s hand, he used sticks and rubber bands to bind the broken bones together,” she said.
“When l confronted him about what he did, he locked us in the room, to prevent me from telling people about his wicked deed or seek for help. He also collected my phone from me so that I will not call the neighbours.”
She narrated how she managed to take the baby to hospitals in the community that refused to treat the baby before she took him to FMC Owerri where the amputation was done.
The woman appealed for support to save her child while calling on the state government, NHRC and other civil society organisations to assist her to get justice for her son.