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 immediately detain and charge Mr Confidence Amatobi in response to allegations that he assaulted his 2-month-old son.
Little Miracle’s arm supposedly fractured as a result of Mr. Amatobi attacking him with a plastic hanger for disturbing his sleep.
His arm was severed at the Pediatrics unit of the Federal Medical Center, FMC Owerri, as a result of the incident which resulted in the shattered arm’s amputation.
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 frowned 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.
Mrs Nnaji said, “The perpetrator, Mr. Confidence Amatobi, who hails from Amurie in Isu L.G.AÂ used a plastic hanger on the baby, simply because he was crying that the mother left to ease herself.
“He used wood and elastic bands to tie the baby’s hand when he saw that hand was broken and swollen,”
“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 the shoulder,”
“I feel for the 20-year-old Favor Chikwe who is too young to go through all this stress just because she went too 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.
The mother of Miracle, Mrs. Favour Chikwe, 20, who is from the Idemili Community in Anambra State, described her trauma in detail. She said that on Friday, October 7, 2022, when the incident occurred, she had left Miracle with his father in order to use the convenience.
Favour recalled that she had to rush back after hearing her infant sobbing excessively to find out what was wrong, only to find that his right hand was swollen and bone shattered from the beating he had gotten from his father.
“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 described how she was able to transport the infant to local hospitals that turned them away before bringing him to FMC Owerri, where the amputation was carried out.
The woman made a plea for help in order to rescue her child and urged the state government, the NHRC, and other groups of civil society to help her secure justice for her son.
See the video below for more!
 
