An Anambra man named Uzochukwu Okoli was apprehended for allegedly forcefully arranging marriages for his underage daughters.
He issued a threat to harm them upon his release from custody. The threat was made in the presence of Mrs. Ify Obinabo, the Commissioner for Women Affairs, who had facilitated his arrest.
The arrest was prompted by one of his daughters reporting the maltreatment she endured from her father and being coerced into marriage.
Chioma Okoli, one of the daughters, claimed to be 16 years old and revealed that her father brought them back from Edo State, where they were attending school, solely for the purpose of arranging their marriages.
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Chioma further disclosed that she was initially forced to live with a 70-year-old man at the age of 14, and later married off to a 34-year-old man named Chinedu Nweke.
She described her life with Chinedu as a living hell, as he physically abused her and even urinated in her mouth after beating her. Chioma eventually escaped with her 9-month-old baby.
The Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, ordered that the case be taken to court to ensure justice for the victims.
She also urged parents to be responsible and protect their children from early marriages that can ruin their lives.
Despite being unable to provide the correct ages of his daughters, the suspect, while being escorted away in handcuffs, threatened to harm them if he were to be released from detention alive.
He arrogantly declared that he would make their lives even more miserable.
