Group Takes Campaign Against Child Abuse To Imo Markets

An Owerri-based human rights group, Stand For Humanity Foundation, has warned traders about the dangers of child abuse, child marriage and drug abuse in rural markets in Imo State.

The executive director of Stand For Humanity Foundation, Chidiebube Okeoma, gave the warning during a sensitisation rally at Afor Enyiogugu Market in Aboh Mbaise local government area and Mission Market in Emekuku community, Owerri North Local government area of the state.

Okeoma, who is also a journalist, said child abuse was culturally, legally and globally prohibited, urging residents to treat children in their care with love rather than subjecting them to torture.

He warned parents and guardians against forcing their children into early marriages, stating that child marriage was a crime.

Okeoma disclosed that the organisation had rescued several victims, while some alleged perpetrators were currently facing trial in courts across the state. He added that anyone involved in child marriage would be exposed and made to face the law.

He further lamented that several children were victims of defilement, child marriage and child labour, with some perpetrators disguising the victims as relatives.

Okeoma said, “Enyiogugu market women and men in Aboh Mbaise local government area, please stop abusing children in your care. It is a crime to abuse children in your houses, whether they are your biological children or housekeepers.

If we catch you abusing any child, we will arrest you, arraign you and send you to prison.

“Every act that inhibits the growth of children constitutes child abuse and is a crime. Child abuse includes battery, child marriage, defilement, dehumanisation, starvation, child labour such as hawking, refusing to send children to school or exposing them to drug intake. If we catch you doing any of these, we will come for you and you will spend the remaining years of your life in jail. Children deserve love, not torture and abuse.

“If you are staying with any child and you can no longer tolerate his or her shortcomings, instead of abusing the child, please return him or her to their biological parents. If the child is yours, take him or her to an orphanage. If you don’t have the right temperament to accommodate the imperfections of children, please send them back to their biological parents or an orphanage instead of abusing them,” he said.

At Mission Market in Emekuku community, Owerri North LGA, Okeoma told traders that the organisation’s clampdown on child abusers was yielding positive results.

He cited the recent six-month jail term secured against one Mrs Rose Okon for abusing her 14-year-old niece, who was in her care, at Umuneke community in Ngor Okpala LGA of the state.

On her part, Pastor Elizabeth Chibueze said God frowned upon and condemned child abuse, adding that children were dear to God and warning that those who maltreated them, particularly orphans, risked God’s wrath.

She appealed to parents and guardians to treat all children in their care with equal love and avoid discrimination.

She added that Stand For Humanity Foundation was beaming its searchlight on homes and would report offenders to security agencies for prosecution.