Civil society organisations and child rights advocates have condemned the alleged arrest, torture and flogging of street children by officials of the Calabar Urban Development Authority (CUDA) in Cross River State.

The Incident, said to have occurred on March 19, 2026, reportedly involved the rounding up of children at Mary Slessor Roundabout in Calabar and their subsequent transportation to the Zoo Garden, where they were allegedly subjected to inhumane treatment.

Executive Director of Street Priests, Godwin O’Hara, who spoke in an interview with The Guardian, said his organisation received a distress call from a volunteer alerting them to the operation by the task force.

According to him, he immediately mobilised his team and headed to the scene, where they encountered frightened children fleeing the area who narrated how their peers had been apprehended and taken away.

“We traced the vehicle conveying the children to the Zoo Garden. What we found was disturbing. The children were tied, lying on the ground and crying, while officials were flogging them with machetes,” O’Hara alleged.

He further claimed that when his team attempted to intervene and identify themselves as a child-focused organisation, they were met with hostility and physical assault by the officials.

“One of my colleagues was slapped, another was hit in the mouth. It became an altercation, but we ensured the release of five children who had been tied up,” he said.

Reacting to the development, the Child Protection Network (CPN), Cross River State Chapter, in a statement issued on March 24, described the alleged actions of CUDA officials as barbaric, unlawful and a gross violation of the Cross River State Child Rights Law, 2023.

The Network said the law expressly prohibits all forms of violence against children and mandates that minors in conflict with the law or in need of care be treated with dignity and due process.

CPN also condemned the alleged assault on staff of Street Priests, describing it as an attack on frontline child rights defenders and a threat to civil society actors working to protect vulnerable children.

“No government agency or official has the right to inflict cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment on children. Such actions undermine the principles of justice, child protection and good governance,” the statement read.

The group called on Governor Bassey Out to order an immediate investigation into the incident and ensure that those responsible are identified and prosecuted.

It also urged the Ministries of Women Affairs, and Social Welfare and Community Development to treat the matter as a priority by providing psychosocial support, medical care and rehabilitation for the affected children.

The Network further appealed to the Nigeria Police Force, National Human Rights Commission and other stakeholders to ensure accountability and prevent a recurrence.

CPN reiterated its commitment to monitoring the case and enforcing the Child Rights Law, insisting on justice for the victims and an end to Impunity against vulnerable children.

The Executive Secretary, CUDA, Mr Ayi Emola did not pick calls or replied to messages at the time of filing this report. (The Guardian, excluding headline)