A 35-year-old man, Ola Emmanuel, of Oke-Oniti area in Osogbo, Osun State, has been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for battering his six-year-old son for eating a meal meant for both of them.
Emmanuel, who separated from the mother of the son, said he prepared beans, served the boy his portion and kept the remaining for himself, but that the son ate the remaining beans before he (father) returned from work.
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Witnesses said the father descended on the boy and beat him mercilessly with a cable and also inflicted injuries on him with other objects.
Residents of the area raised alarm that the man might kill the boy and reported to the NSCDC which operatives rushed to the house, rescued the boy and arrested the man.
Neighbours said the man often subjected the boy who was out of school to torture and abuse hence the scars and wounds on his body.
The NSCDC’s commandant in the state, Emmanuel Ocheja, speaking through the command’s spokesman, Atanda Olabisi, described the action of the man as barbaric.
The head, anti-human trafficking, irregular migration and gender-based unit of NSCDC, Osun StateCommand, Onifade Clement, decried the prevalence of child abuse in recent times and advised parents and guardians to desist from abusing children under their care.