More horror in Nigeria. A man tortured, imprisoned and starved his six-year-old daughter because a woman at his church who purports to be a “prophet” told him his little girl is a “witch.”
Edidiong was beaten by her father and locked up in a room with her hands, mouth and face bound for four days before she was rescued by neighbours.
It was learnt that Etok-Akpan started beating her on February 19 after an unidentified prophetess in their church told him that Edidiong was the witch responsible for the stagnancy in his life.
Narrating her ordeal to PUNCH Metro on Monday, Edidiong said after the beatings which lasted for some days, her father on February 21 tied her hands with a cord and bound her mouth with a piece of cloth.
She said, “He locked me in the inner room of our house and he never gave me food and never allowed me to go to school.”
The girl, who said she is in basic three at Femos Nursery and Primary School located at 24 Etyin Abasi Street, said she was becoming weak after days without food or water.
My friend James Ibor, a lawyer with the Basic Rights Counsel, called the police after neighbors called him.
Ibor said one of the neighbours called him and he in turn informed the police.
He said, “When the policemen and I got there, we saw a crowd gathered outside. We were able to rescue the child by breaking the door.
“The girl was very weak because she had been without food for days and so we had to give her water first, then after about ten minutes we gave her milk before solid food an hour later.”
Ibor said the culprit and his wife had locked up the girl in the inner room of their two-room apartment and went to church, adding that the girl was presently living with her grandmother in another part of the town.
What was that about religion and compassion again?