The Bayelsa State Police Command’s Ekeki Division arrested a stepmother, Peremoboere Botu, for chaining a 9-year-old boy named Godday Simon Aprebo to a pole on suspicion of being a wizard.
The stepmother accused the boy of using voodoo against his family, causing misfortune for his father, and attempting to kill him.
The incident occurred on Agboli Street in the Okutukutu area of the state’s Yenagoa Local Government Area, and it took the efforts of police officers to rescue the boy.
The advocacy groups, Starrz Safety Initiative, led by its Executive Director, Mary Bekeowei Accrah, and FOMWAN, led by Hajia Maryam Abeki, were said to have quickly drawn the attention of the Bayelsa State Gender Response Initiative Team (GRIT) to the boy’s plight.
According to the victim’s neighbours, his stepmother and biological father chained him to prevent him from fleeing, claiming he is a wizard.
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They allegedly subjected him to a series of punishments in order to coerce him into confessing to the alleged wizardry.
It was learned that the father, identified as Simon Afrebo, who was said to be a prophet, had since fled.
Barr. Dise Ogbise, State Chairman of the Gender Response Initiative Team (GRIT), who confirmed the development, described the incident as pathetic and stated that the perpetrators would not go unpunished.
She urged the Bayelsa State Police Command to conduct a thorough investigation and prosecute the perpetrators as soon as possible, adding that GRIT would take steps to provide psycho-social support to the child.
SP Asinim Butswat, a police spokesman in Bayelsa State, confirmed the incident and said a discreet investigation was underway.