- She’s very cruel to the minor- Neighbours
- Gift has learnt her lesson, says husband
What on earth could have prompted a nursing mother, Mrs. Gift Igwe, to set fire on her seven-year-old orphaned brother-in-law, Chima Obi?
This is the rhetorical question being asked by virtually all the residents of the Agunfaye area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, where the incident occurred.
Obi lives with his uncle, who is the husband to Gift, a nursing mother.
Gift, who is in her mid-40s, was alleged to be in the habit of maltreating the young victim on several occasions before going further in her bestial act by unexpectedly setting the boy ablaze over an issue that has been described by many residents of the area as “minor.”
What then was Obi’s sin to have warranted such a heinous punishment from the nursing mother? Our correspondent gathered that a night before the incident, the seven-year-old had urinated in his shorts while asleep and this had infuriated Gift, when the day broke, and she seized the cloth and set it ablaze.
Not satisfied with the burning of the boy’s shorts, the nursing mother allegedly became more irritated, grew angrier and went ahead to douse Obi with kerosene before striking a match to set him ablaze in a manner reminiscent of the offer of a live animal for a sacrifice.
By the time sympathisers and neighbours put the fire out from the young boy’s tender body, he had become consumed like a roasted meat, with his skin peeling off! His back was completely burnt, while his right arm and part of his left arm had equally been badly affected!
Reliving his harrowing experience at the hands of his uncle’s wife, Obi, who spoke with our correspondent in the custody of a Non-Governmental Organisation, Child Protection Network, where he’s now taking refuge after the incident, said, “My madam (Gift) put fire on me because I urinated in my knickers while I was sleeping in the night.”
Now sobbing, the young boy further alleged, “She always treats me badly. She beats me and rarely gives me food. She does not also let me go to school. I feel like dying.”
The matter has since been reported to the police division in Igbogbo, Ikorodu, and the suspect has been arrested.
I don’t know how the whole thing happened. I just saw that I got so angry and set fire on the boy. I’m so sorry for that, I will never do that again
But the suspect in her reaction claimed not to know what came over her that made her to set fire on the body of the seven-year-old boy.
She pleaded with the officials of the CPN to hands off the case, stressing that she would desist from such behaviours once she’s let off the hook.
“I don’t know how the whole thing happened. I just saw that I got so angry and set fire on the boy. I’m so sorry for that, I will never do that again,” Gift pleaded in police custody.
But some other residents corroborated claims that she had always been cruel in her handling of the young orphan, always subjecting him to series of corporal punishments.
She was said to have once made an attempt to attack Obi with a machete, but was stopped by vigilant neighbours, who managed to take away the dangerous weapon from her.
A resident of the area, who simply identified himself as Kunle blamed Gift’s husband, Mr. Igwe, for his alleged tardiness in dealing with his wife’s cruelty to the orphaned boy, saying if he had taken prompt action against the nursing mother, she wouldn’t have gone to the extent of setting fire on a fellow human being over trivia.
“We all knew that something of this magnitude would happen one day, considering how she used to punish the boy behind her husband,” Kunle said.
Corroborating Kunle, another neighbour of the Igwes, who identified himself as Mr. John Agada, said, “There was a day I saw Mrs. Gift Igwe beating the boy with a cutlass. I approached her and asked why she was cruelly beating the young boy with a cutlass, but she said it was not my business; that I should not interfere in what did not concern me. I tried to stop her but she started insulting m. So, I left. She is very wicked, insulting and mean.”
Also speaking with our correspondent on the matter, one Mr. Benjamin, who claimed to have once seized a machete with which the suspect had threatened the young boy, said, “I have never seen this kind of human being in my life. Although I have been hearing stories of wicked people, maltreating and abusing other people, I have not really thought some people could be this heartless to the extent of maltreating such a very young boy.
“That day she was beating the poor boy with the flat side of a cutlass. You can imagine what could have happened, if I had not got there in time to save the boy. May be she could have accidentally hit him with the blade of the cutlass.
“This is sheer wickedness and it is unacceptable and must be totally condemned. She must face the full weight of the law,” he said.
Another resident, who did not want his name mentioned, said, “When we saw Chima (Obi) in the morning, we saw traces of hot water burns on his legs; we asked him what happened to him, but he was too scared to talk because of the fear instilled in him by Gift, who must have warned him not tell anybody.
“The boy later told us a lie that he mistakenly poured hot water on himself. But this deliberate setting of the boy on fire was too obvious to be covered. So, we took it up.”
But the suspect’s husband, Mr. Igwe, claimed he had always warned his wife against maltreating the young the boy.
“When this incident occurred, I got so angry and I slapped my wife several times. I have received many complaints about her cruel attitude towards this boy, but I didn’t want the matter to cause any issue in the family. So, I decided to manage the situation maturely. There was a day, one of our neighbours told me to take the boy away from her because of how she treats her, but there’s nowhere to take the boy to since his parents are dead. So, I decided to sit my wife down and pleaded with her to nurture the boy like our biological son. But to my surprise, look at what she resorted to,” he said.
Igwe, however, pleaded with the authorities to tamper justice with mercy in dealing with his wife for her cruel act because she’s a nursing mother.
But the Coordinator, Community Women’s Right Foundation, Alhaji Lateef Akinborode, said, “When the incident happened, the residents brought the case to our attention and the woman came to beg us to hands off. But I told her that I will only forget about the case if she could give the same cruel treatment she had given to the boy to her own child.”
Akinborode added that while she earlier denied the allegation of setting the boy on fire, claiming that it was the kerosene stove the 7-year-old was trying to light that exploded and caused the burns on the victim, Gift later confessed to committing the crime.
