The Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, has condemned in the strongest term, the reported transfer of the nine-year-old girl, Idimmachukwu, who was assaulted and battered by her guardian, from the hospital where she was admitted in Awka, Anambra State capital to another hospital.
Idimmachukwu was transferred to a hospital in Asaba without the consent of the Anambra State Ministry of Women Affairs.
SaharaReporters on Sunday reported that the police in Anambra, Southeast Nigeria confirmed the arrest of a 25-year-old woman identified as Mrs Chinyere Ifesinachi, for assaulting the girl and hitting her with a pestle.
The spokesperson for the state police command, Tochukwu Ikenga, in a statement, said the police rescued Ms Idimmachukwu and arrested Ifesinachi around 5.45 pm on Friday in the Nkpor area by King, off Glory Road in the Idemili Local Government Area of the state.
Meanwhile, Obinabo earlier told journalists that Ifesinachi beat the teenage girl with a pestle and cane because she threw her child on the ground.
Ifesinachi also used a heated knife to brutalise the young girl.
The Commissioner had also confirmed that the girl was “taken to the hospital where she is still undergoing medical examinations and treatment to ascertain the extent of her injuries.”
However, it was gathered that the teenage girl was on Monday transferred from the hospital in Anambra to another hospital in neighbouring Delta State capital, Asaba without the knowledge or consent of the Commissioner or the ministry.
Idimmachukwu was rescued through the intervention of the Women and Social Welfare Commissioner, the police, an NGO that is known as ‘Save and Secure the Child Initiative’ and other stakeholders.
But on Monday, a skit maker who identified himself as Lord Zeus in a social media post announced that the girl had been transferred to First Delta American Hospital, Asaba.
Meanwhile, Lord Zeus did not explain in detail why the girl was transferred from Awka to another hospital outside the state; rather, he simply said he didn't like the hospital including the beds.
“Not to risk sounding derogatory, but I don't like the hospital she was initially kept at Awka. Everything there including the beds look old.
“So we took her to First Delta American Hospital, Asaba. The little girl is traumatized, she fidgets when you touch her. The hospital suggested getting her a therapist, to overcome the trauma...” he wrote on his Facebook page.
But the Women and Social Welfare Commissioner, Obinabo said she was not aware of the transfer of the child from the hospital in Awka to another hospital, let alone a hospital in another state.
She said it was done without her consent.
Obinabo questioned the girl’s transfer from the Anambra hospital without her knowledge despite her ministry's commitment and full involvement in the matter.
She said, “So, it is very horrible for the people to have transferred that child out of the hospital without our consent and outside our knowledge."
According to the Commissioner, indigenes of Nnewi where the girl hails from had expressed interest in footing her hospital bills and caring for her. She said they had also planned with the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Dr. Joseph Ugboaja, to transfer the teenage girl to NAUTH for further treatment.
Obinabo said, “Anambra State Government is capable of caring for the child and settling her hospital bills, as we have always done for other victims in the past. However, the indigenes of Nnewi expressed interest in bankrolling the bills themselves.
“Lord Zeus or whosoever they said the comedian is, had never paid or been paying hospital bills for us. So, I wonder how and why he just came from nowhere and transferred the child from the hospital to another hospital, without our knowledge and consent. That is quite disappointing.”
Similarly, a member representing Nnewi North Constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon. Nonso Smart Okafor, said he was also not aware that the girl had been transferred to another hospital.
Okafor said he found out about Idimmachukwu's transfer after it happened.
He warned against using the child to beg for money in any way or in the name of getting her treated.
Okafor said, “I was infuriated about how and why such a thing happened without our knowledge. So, my brother, there was no consensus by the Nnewi indigenes to transfer the child from that hospital to another hospital in Asaba."
In the same vein, the State Principal of the Save and Secure the Child Initiative, Mr. Kingsley Obi, said the organisation was not aware that girl had been transferred to another hospital as he was never informed of the move.
Obi said he led his team to the hospital to visit the girl as they had always done on a daily basis, only to be told that she was no longer in the hospital.
The Anambra State Police spokesperson, Tochukwu Ikenga also
said the police were not aware of the girl's transfer nor involved in it.
The PPRO said he was aware that Idimmachukwu was discharged from the hospital on Monday but did not know she was taken to another hospital.
The police spokesperson said Idimmachukwu was handed over to her parents.
The mother of the victim, Mrs Chinyere Chukwujekwu, confirmed that Idimmachukwu was discharged to her.
According to her, it was the management of the hospital that discharged the girl on the excuse that they had completed treatment on her.
Chinyere said, “They said they were done with their treatments, and therefore, discharged her to us. But my daughter was still crying and complaining of her hands and other pains around her body.
“This got us so worried and people suggested that we should take her to a bigger hospital for an ultra-scan since that hospital does not have the facilities for that. That was why and how we got here to this current hospital in Asaba.”
She also admitted that she did not notify the Commissioner, the NGO, the police, or anyone who had shown interest in the matter before transferring the girl to another hospital.
According to her, the action was taken as a matter of urgency and necessity given that her daughter kept “crying and complaining of her hands and pains before she was taken to the current hospital in Asaba”.