The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), and the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) have called on Nigerian government and the Nigeria police to immediately arrest and prosecute a 31-year-old man for battery.
Mr Confidence Amatobi allegedly assaulted his eight-week-old baby for disturbing his sleep, leading to the amputation of the baby’s fractured arm.
The matter came to light after mother of the baby made a call for justice.
The aforementioned authorities who frowned at the dastardly cruel act of Mr Amatobi expressed shock that a father could assault his innocent child simply for that flimsy reason.
She disclosed that Mr Amatobi was reported to have repeatedly hit the baby with a plastic object to stop him from crying until the right hand broke.
Describing the attack on the little boy as the height of child abuse, the chairperson demanded justice for the baby since he can’t speak for himself.
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 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 organizations to assist her to get justice for her son.