The Edo State Police Command on Saturday confirmed the arrest of a medical doctor and paediatrician with the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH), Irrua in Edo State, Dr Chiamaka Ogbonnaya, for allegedly assaulting and battering her housemaid identified as Comfort (surname withheld), who is said to be in Junior Secondary School 2.

The medical practitioner was accused of brutalising the girl frequently with a mopping stick, turning stick, cane and any other object in sight, in addition to sending the minor out of the house, giving her raw rice saying that would be her food for one week.

Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Chidi Nwabuzor, said “Dr Ogbonayan Chiamaka of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital was actually arrested by Irrua Division on the alleged offence of child abuse and battering and currently the matter is under the investigation of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the investigation that is SCID and further development will be made known to the public”.

Also speaking on the matter, the Commissioner of Education, Dr Joan Osa Oviawe, said, she would respond appropriately once she got the full report of the case.

Oviawe, however, warned that there is zero-tolerance for the abuse of children in Edo State.

“At the Ministry of Education, we take very seriously the social safeguarding of all our pupils and students. There is the Child Rights Law which stipulates all kinds of punishment including jail terms for adults who abuse children.

“A child who has been traumatised at home will not be able to learn at school. His Excellency Governor Godwin Obaseki has given us the mandate to ensure quality and relevant education across all levels of education and under our EdoBEST 2.0 education reform agenda, psycho-social support for all our learners is a priority,” the commissioner reiterated. (Nigerian Tribune)

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