Untold, chilling tales of abused children

Child maltreatment isn’t just a passing headline—it’s a relentless nightmare woven into the fabric of everyday life. Some innocent lives have been tragically snuffed out by it, while others bear the haunting scars of survival carved into their flesh, and deeper still, into their souls. Their stories are not just of pain, but of unimaginable endurance, laced with wounds that time can’t heal and are laid bare in this special report by VICTOR AYENI

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls,” wrote Kahlil Gibran, the Lebanese-American poet, “the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

His words resonate profoundly with the harrowing six-year ordeal Romanus Chike endured at the hands of a relative and her children in Kano State.

Though the events took place over a decade ago, the pain remains fresh for the 34-year-old, whose voice trembled as he fought back tears while recounting his story to Saturday PUNCH.

Clad in a white shirt and black trousers, the aluminium technician revealed the scars etched across his legs, arms, and back—silent witnesses to years of relentless child brutality inflicted by his maternal aunt, a woman infamously remembered as Mrs Okoro.

“I was about 11 or 12 when she came to my parents’ home in the village,” Chike recalled, his voice tinged with a mix of sorrow and disbelief. “She promised to sponsor my secondary education, offering me a better life. My parents agreed, trusting her since she was better off financially.”

Brimming with hope, Chike had envisioned a world filled with schooling, new experiences, and friendships—never suspecting the horrors awaiting him. But that dream was swiftly crushed.

The physical and psychological torment he suffered would not only scar his body but also shape his life in profound and irreversible ways.

“At first, I wasn’t registered in school. For a year, I was made to stay at home and attend to domestic chores. There were two large water storage drums stationed outside the house which I was expected to fill first thing in the morning every day.

“My aunt had two sons (older than me) and a girl about my age, but they don’t fetch water or do any domestic work. I slaved for them. At 4:30 am daily, my aunt would awaken me with slaps and kicks to go fetch water while her children were still snoring in bed.

“One thing I still don’t understand was how the water storage drums were always empty each morning such that I had to fetch water every day even on Sunday before going to church,” he said.

According to the World Health Organisation, child maltreatment is “the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age.”

This abuse includes all kinds of physical and emotional maltreatment and other forms of child exploitation.

WHO estimates that there are 40,150 child homicide deaths annually, “some of which are most likely due to child maltreatment.”

It added that, “child maltreatment can affect cognitive and academic performance” and often results in both short- and long-term “physical, sexual, and mental health consequences.”

A house of horror

Outwardly, Mrs Okoro presented herself as a warm and devoutly religious woman, celebrated in the community for her notable acts of charity.

She held a key position in her church and often spoke to Chike in a calm, measured tone whenever they were within the precincts of the religious gathering.

But behind closed doors, Chike saw a starkly different side of her—one that often surfaced without warning.

“I still believe that woman is a witch,” Chike told Saturday PUNCH, his brow furrowed.

“As soon as she returned from an outing or church service, I would start panicking because she would immediately find fault with everything. You could never predict what would trigger her hateful, angry side.

“She would beat me with whips and canes. Her eldest son also maltreated and beat me as well. They treated me like I was dirt. Only the girl among them liked me,” the native of Awka-Etiti added.

When Chike was enrolled in a public secondary school and made to start from JSS 2, the cycle of abuse continued unabated.

The family he had once viewed as a sanctuary of love, support, and security became a source of violence, leaving him scarred by a deep sense of betrayal.

“After two years of living with them, I was no longer academically bright in school,” Chike recalled, “because I was eating very little and was often sleepy in class due to the domestic work I had to do every morning. Those were not days when you could easily reach your parents with mobile phones.”

“It was in that house that I ate spoilt food. My parents weren’t rich, but we never ate spoilt food. But there, I would eat food that had grown mould, and my aunt ensured I finished every plate. There were also days when I was starved,” Chike added.

One morning, while 16-year-old Chike was fetching water, his legs buckled under the weight of the heavy kegs he was carrying, leaving him unable to walk.

“Mrs Okoro took me to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. When the doctor asked questions about what could have caused the fracture, she lied. Realising I had become physically deformed, she decided to send me back to the village and return me to my parents.

“She told them I had fallen while playing and broken my legs, even giving them money and food items. After she left, I advised my mother to throw away the food she had given and revealed everything that had happened.”

Chike’s parents sought both conventional and traditional medical treatments. Though their son eventually regained the use of his legs, he still walks with a limp—a lasting reminder of the harm inflicted by someone the family had once trusted.

“I no longer harbour bitterness over what she did,” Chike noted, “but I wish there was a way to hold her accountable. She has never admitted her actions to me or apologised to this very day.”

Voices silenced by violence

Although Chike survived the ordeal at the hands of his aunt and can now share his story, many children have not been so fortunate.

Their lives have been tragically cut short by those they trusted—parents, guardians, stepmothers, stepfathers, and other family members—who subjected them to violence under the guise of discipline.

On December 30, 2024, operatives of the Ondo State Police Command received an anonymous call reporting that a father of seven, Monday Elela, living in Ajowa Akoko, had killed his 14-year-old son, Tope.

The bricklayer and farmer was reportedly complicit with his wife in burying their son in a shallow grave behind the family home.

Narrating his version of events, Elela denied killing his son, claiming he only beat him after the boy escaped from the custody of the Amotekun Corps.

“Of my seven children, Tope has been the one giving us problems and causing embarrassment for the family,” Elela stated.

“He often breaks into people’s houses. He is known around where we live and has been arrested many times by the police and Amotekun, but he won’t change.

“While in Amotekun custody during his last arrest, he escaped from the cell by breaking the iron bars and jumping the fence.

“When he returned home, we only spanked him with our hands for his wrongdoings and the shame he brought to us. We didn’t know he was already injured from his time with the Amotekun officers.”

Elela said after the 14-year-old was spanked, he ate his food, took his bath, and went to sleep.

“It was at daybreak that we instructed his younger brother to wake him so we could all go to the farm. When he didn’t respond, we realised he had died,” he added.

Beaten to death

Like Elela, the Benue State Police Command arrested a woman simply identified as Mrs Upev for allegedly beating her 10-year-old stepson, Fanen Yange, to death.

The boy had been accused of stealing a piece of meat from the pot, which led his stepmother to subject him to a brutal beating in the early hours of the day.

“When the victim went to sleep that night, he never woke up. Yange was confirmed dead by a doctor, and his body has been deposited at the Bishop Murray Hospital morgue in Makurdi for an autopsy,” stated the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene.

Similarly, in 2023, an 18-year-old housewife in the Kandahar area of Bauchi State, Khadija Adamu, was arrested for beating her five-year-old stepdaughter, Hafsat, to death after the child passed stool on herself.

The pregnant housewife was said to have beaten the girl, inflicting multiple injuries on her.

Confessing to the crime, Adamu said, “I used a phone charger cable to beat her for passing stool on herself, though not with the intention to kill. This was not the first time she had soiled herself.”

In August 2021, an artisan, Saviour Aniefok, fled after allegedly torturing his seven-year-old son, Nathaniel, to death at their home in Magodo Phase 2, Lagos State.

He had reportedly accused the boy of stealing fish, leading to a violent beating.

“Around 10 pm, we started hearing Nathaniel shouting and crying for help. We also heard loud bangs on the floor and walls, indicating that he was being beaten.

“As he cried, Saviour kept telling him to shut up. I thought their stepmother was at home to caution him, but we later found out she had travelled. Shockingly, we learned the next day that Nathaniel had died,” a neighbour who requested anonymity told Saturday PUNCH.

Another neighbour reported seeing Saviour and three others attempting to transport Nathaniel’s body in the early hours of the morning.

“I saw Nathaniel lying naked in the back seat of Saviour’s car. I noticed a strong smell of pain relief ointment on his body. I was on my way to work when I saw them,” he said.

Saviour, however, denied torturing his son to death, claiming Nathaniel died after falling while trying to escape punishment for allegedly stealing his customer’s fish.

“I noticed he was behaving strangely around 2 am, so I rushed him to a nearby hospital, but it was locked. I took him to another hospital in Ketu, where he was referred to yet another facility, but he died.

“I didn’t go into hiding. My mother was ill, and I returned home with my other child to check on her and explain what happened. I was planning to return to Lagos today, but the IPOB stay-at-home order prevented me,” Saviour explained.

Wounded survivors

Though Soji Ajala was known for his affability among friends and acquaintances in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, he still carries deep emotional scars from his childhood.

“My dad used to beat me a lot while I was growing up,” the 27-year-old told Saturday PUNCH. “Even up to the age of 19, he would use a cane, steel cable, and even his fists on me.”

Ajala described how his father was nicknamed the panel beater  by neighbours, who were fully aware of the abuse but never intervened.

“I remember him stomping on my chest one day because I hid my school report card from him. I was 13 at the time, and I can still recall how he broke two of my ribs and the excruciating pain that followed. I had to be taken to the hospital that evening.

“He also beat our mother and inflicted injuries on her. Whenever he got drunk, he went into a blind rage. One day, while beating me, the look on his face resembled that of a savage animal,” Ajala revealed.

Also sharing her experience, a mother of two, Tope Olujimi, recounted how, despite having two other sisters, her mother often singled her out for brutal punishments.

“If a mug fell and broke, I got beaten. If she called me and I didn’t respond quickly, I got beaten. If she caught me playing outside with other kids, more beating.

“When she misplaces her money, she would beat me. There was a time when she even threw bottles at me. She would use copper wire, belts, sticks, and anything she could find around her. My dad always tried to explain it away, but I still hate my mum to this day,” Olujimi said.

“I see firsthand how this early trauma becomes embedded in the very core of a survivor’s being,” said a certified psychotherapist and CBT specialist, Micheal Jacob, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH.

“These experiences are not merely events in their past; they become part of how they relate to themselves, others, and the world around them. For many survivors, the internalised belief that they were deserving of the abuse permeates their self-worth.

“They may struggle with chronic feelings of shame, guilt, and inadequacy, often feeling as though they are broken or inherently flawed. This can lead to low self-esteem and a tendency to sabotage themselves in relationships, careers, or any situation where they feel they might fail or be rejected.”

Jacob explained that, in adulthood, survivors of childhood abuse often develop “maladaptive coping mechanisms, such as emotional numbness, substance abuse, or perfectionism, to numb the pain of their unresolved trauma.”

“The trauma they’ve experienced,” he added, “can also manifest as hypervigilance, where they feel a constant sense of being on guard, never fully relaxed or able to trust their surroundings.

“For some, this may also develop into anxiety disorders, where they are gripped by overwhelming fears or panic attacks triggered by reminders of their childhood experiences.

“Relationships often bear the most visible scars of childhood abuse. Survivors might struggle with emotional intimacy, fearing that any vulnerability will lead to betrayal or further pain.”

Hidden suffering

In October 2024, the Lagos State Police Command initiated a manhunt for a 48-year-old father, Kadiri Yusuf, also known as Alado, who was alleged to have brutally assaulted two of his children.

This incident occurred in the Orile Agege area of Lagos State.

He allegedly inflicted severe bodily injuries on his children, aged 11 and 13.

The incident came to light when the head teacher of a primary school, visibly angered by the suspect’s actions, alerted local authorities to the children’s plight.

The State PPRO, Benjamin Hundeyin, stated that the teacher discovered one of her pupils had serious wounds all over her body shortly after 7 am that same day.

“The teacher further claimed that upon inquiry, the little girl, about 11 years old, confided in her that her father, Kadiri Yusuf alias Alado, used to beat her.

“The little girl also confided in her teacher that her father had beaten up her older brother, who was 13 years old,” Hundeyin disclosed.

The children were rescued and placed in the safe custody of their sister. The suspect, however, fled his home before the police could apprehend him.

Commenting on the growing issue of child maltreatment, a paediatric expert, Mrs Tolulope Awopetu pointed out that such abuse is often hidden, making it difficult for many victims to receive help from health professionals.

“It takes a trained eye to spot child maltreatment,” Awopetu explained to Saturday PUNCH.

“A child being mistreated might appear normal in public, but unless you get closer, you won’t notice the harm they are enduring. It’s very common, but most victims don’t receive the support they need, and sometimes, they no longer see themselves as victims.

“It has been documented that children who suffer physical abuse often grow up to become abusers themselves, perpetuating the cycle of violence from one generation to the next.”

Explaining further, Awopetu pointed out that while child maltreatment is more prevalent in low-income countries, the lack of data in many of these regions has made it challenging for survivors to access proper support.

“Prevention is the best approach, and everyone should look out for this issue,” she said. “This includes offering parental support, teaching positive parenting skills, and enacting laws to prevent the violent punishment of children.”

“The government should also help create awareness and establish platforms where people can talk about child maltreatment. A timely response and improved social support for child endangerment cases should be prioritised in Nigeria. There should also be stronger legislation and institutional frameworks to protect children exposed to violence, abuse, and exploitation,” she added.

Locked up and tortured

On September 14, 2024, operatives from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Akwa Ibom State Command, rescued a 12-year-old girl (name withheld) who had been allegedly locked up in a dilapidated building by her father.

It was revealed that the girl had been locked up by her father, Ndifreke Sunday, in collaboration with her stepmother, Victory, following an alleged confession to witchcraft.

Sharing her ordeal, the young girl recounted being locked in a dilapidated room, denied food, and subjected to consistent beatings by her stepmother.

“I was fed once every two days, allowed to bathe a maximum of two times a month, and was not allowed to go to school,” the 12-year-old said.

The state commandant, Eluyemi Eluwade, confirmed that the victim would be handed over to a Gender-Based Violence Shelter Home for care and rehabilitation.

A similar case occurred in Anambra State in September 2023, when security operatives, led by officials from the state Ministry of Women and Social Welfare, rescued four children who had been forcibly taken from their mother and locked away for nine months.

The children were rescued from the Worliwor community in Onitsha following a complaint made by their mother, Chinenye Orajiaka, to the ministry.

She had alleged that her sister-in-law, Ndidi Orajiaka, forcibly took her children into custody after she separated from her husband and refused to allow her access to them.

When security operatives arrived, the children were found locked in a room, making the rescue challenging. Upon their rescue, the children eagerly called for their mother and pleaded to be taken away.

The rescued children revealed that since moving in with their aunt, they had not been attending school and had been responsible for all the domestic chores in her house.

A path to healing

Describing how survivors of maltreatment can be supported, Jacob explained that the healing process requires a multi-layered approach.

“One of the first and most important interventions,” he said, “is creating a safe therapeutic environment—one where the survivor feels seen, heard, and validated.”

Jacob further explained, “Survivors need to feel heard, seen, and believed. Simple affirmations like ‘I’m so sorry you went through that’ or ‘Thank you for trusting me with your story’ can mean everything.”

He stressed the importance of language, advising against minimising their experiences with statements like “It’s in the past now” or “Just move on.” Survivors should not be rushed into healing. They need to be reassured that their pain is valid and that healing takes time.

For Chike, however, the emotional scars of his ordeal remain as vivid as the physical ones on his body.

“I still have problems trusting people,” he reflects, gently running his fingers over the scar on his right arm. “When I have my own children, I will never allow anyone to have the kind of easy access to them that my aunt had to me, much less let them be abused.”