Starvation: Couple Arrested for Feeding their 5 Children with Uncooked Rice, Palm Kernel in Anambra

By Praise Chinecherem

Mr. Uche Mbonu and his third wife, Peace have been arrested over alleged child abuse, starvation and refusal to provide family needs for their five underaged boys in Osumenyi, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra state.

The suspects were arrested by security operatives and handed over to Police through the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo.

Narrating their ordeal, the oldest of the kids, Chigbo Mbonu, who revealed that Peace is his father’s third wife, said they had suffered untold hardship since she came into their family.

“My father had married two wives before finally marrying my step mother who is his sales girl.

“We feed once a day for the days our step mother will give us food. That’s why we rely on raw rice and palm kernel after hunger must have severely dealt with us.

“At some point, I stopped schooling because I helped my father in his block industry. I mould blocks with 4 bags of cement on a bad day and 6 bags on normal days,” 17-year-old Chigbo lamented.

The suspects, during interrogation, however denied the allegation, accusing the kids of always eating raw rice.

“We didn’t starve the kids. We always feed them but they prefer eating raw rice, an attitude we don’t know where they learnt it from,” Mbonu claimed.

According to the security operatives, Peace, before her arrest, had fled to Nnewi, her maternal home to take cover following her husband’s arrest.

Reacting, Commissioner Obinabo described the act as condemnable, saying close examination indicated that the victims had suffered severe hunger.

She said the suspects had since been handed over to the Police for further investigation and prosecution.

“The Soludo-led APGA government will continue to ensure that child labor, abuse, and all forms of maltreatment are reduced to the barest minimum,” she added.