Police sergeant from Ibiaku community,
Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa
Ibom State, Mr. Ita Ayamba, has allegedly
brutalised and abandoned his eight-year-
old daughter, Goodness Ayamba over her
refusal to confess to witchcraft.

Ita was said to have paraded the little girl
along the village streets Unclad, declaring
that Goodness was responsible for his
retrogression in the Police Force.

A source and relative of Ita, told our
correspondent in Eket on Saturday, on the
condition of anonymity,
that the police sergeant tortured his
daughter for several hours in an attempt to
extract a confession of being a witch from
her.
He said, “When he discovered that
Goodness had passed out, Ita abandoned
her, having hit her chest with the b*tt of his
AK 47 Rifle.

“None of us could go close to Ita to rescue
Goodness as he had threatened to shoot
anyone that dared.
“I don’t see how a child of that age could
become a clog in the wheel of her father’s
progress in the Police Force. We need to tell
each other the truth. Progress in one’s
career depends on the efforts one has made
academically.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that Ita had
divorced Goodness’ mother some years
back. He was said to have remarried almost
immediately, leaving three children including
Goodness with their grandmother.
A resident of the area, Okon Ekong, said that on July 28, 2013 when the children were on holiday, Ita had requested custody of them.
He was said to be at his new station in Port
Harcourt, Rivers State, at the time.
Ita’s former wife, Mrs. Anietie Ayamba,
allegedly heeded his request and took the
children to him. Ekong said that the
children’s stepmother made life miserable
for them.

He said, “It was during their stay in Port
Hracourt, that their stepmother took the
children to a Pentecostal church. Goodness
was accused of witchcraft at the church.
Her stepmother was told that Goodness was
the person responsible for their father’s
non-rising profile in the force.

“The father who was also in the church
began to beat and kick Goodness in a bid to
extract a confession about her witchcraft.”
When PUNCH Metro visited Immanuel
Hospital, Eket, Eket LGA, on Saturday, where Goodness was taken to for medical
attention, it was gathered that she had been
admitted at the intensive care unit of the
children’s ward.

Nurses at the hospital said Goodness’
condition was stable but that her bones and
chest cavity had been badly damaged.
A group of women lawyers under the aegis
of Federation of International Women
Lawyers have said that they would do
everything within their power to ensure that
Ita was brought to justice.

The state director of the organisation, Mrs.
Mary Udonsek, stated that the women
would not continue to sit back and allow
men maltreat their children on the guise of
labelling them witches.

Ita, said to be working at Trans Amadi
Police Station, Port Harcourt, Rivers State
had allegedly not been to Ibiaku, Mkpat
Enin LGA since the incident.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr.Etim Dickson, said the Rivers State Police
Command would be contacted about the
matter.

He said, “Messages have been sent across
to police area commands in Oron and Ikot
Ekpene so that Ita will not have any place to
hide once he is in the state.”

Information Nigeria