Breaking: Outrage in Abia over sexual assault on girl, 5
*HRM Nwigwe Accused of shielding suspect
Pandemonium is silently seething in Umule-Nso, Afugiri, in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, following the brutal sexual assault meted out to a 5-year-old girl, simply identified as Chidera Igwe, a native of the community.
Reportedly, underaged Chidera was said to have been incessantly sexually abused, by one Ikemefuna Igwe, a young man who is said to be his uncle who is said to be in his early twenties.
When visited by our Reporter at his home town, in Umule-Nso, Afugiri, last Saturday, June 15, 2025, the father of the victim, Mr. Uche Igwe, amidst heartache, recounted the trauma, the awful incident had caused his 5-years-old daughter, lamenting that up until the time of the press, little Chidera was yet to get justice for the crime done against her.
He regretted that he and his innocent daughter were not only contending with the sexual violence but also the alleged jeering from the community members who, according to him, go about, teasing and taunting Chidera upon the seeing her.
Igwe, who could scarcely hold back his flood of tears, alleged that among the members of the community who cajoled the little girl each time she walked passed in the community, were elderly women, who instead of showing empathy, rather make caricatures of the minor over the incidents, thus leaving her with a mark of infamy.
This is even the traditional ruler of the community, and Chairman of Umuahia North Traditional Rulers Council, HRM, Eze Innocent Adiele Nwaigwe is being accused of “shielding” the suspect, thereby allegedly stopping the aggrieved youths from reporting the heinous to to the police.
Famousreporters.com gathered that the renowned traditional ruler allegedly asked the poor father of the victim not to report the matter to the police, citing
Here are the excerpts of the interview with Mr. Uche Igwe, Chidera’s father:
Q. Please, may we know your name, please, sir.
Resp. My name is Mr. Uche Igwe. I am an indigene of Umule-Nso, in Afugiri-Ohuhu in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State. I am the father of chidera, a five year-old child .
Q. what class is Chidera?
She is in nursery three
Q. What is the name of her school?
Resp. Ekeokwuru primary school, Umule-Nso.
Q. Please, tell us what happened to your child.
Resp. On May 26, 2025, my elder brother’s wife Ifeoma Igwe and I were invited by her class teacher.
So both of us went to see the class teacher. On getting there the teacher told us that chidera was caught practicing a sexual act with one of her classmates of the same age and upon interrogation by the teacher, she mentioned that her uncle in the compound by name Ikemefuna Igwe who is about 23-years old or more, lures her each time she comes back from school with groundnut and then takes her inside his house, locks the door and has canal knowledge of her. And this happened repeatedly. It wasn’t a one off thing and he told her not to tell anybody.
So, we decided to alert the community. The women of the community, led by the chairlady, Mrs. Chinwe Anokwa called the women. The women stayed out till 11pm on that 26th .
So, the boy who sensed what will happen ran away from the community and decided to call his father who bluntly told women that he had gone to bed.
Q. What class is Ikemefula?
He dropped out of secondary school at JSS2.
Q. What about his mother?
Resp. His mother is late.
Q. At about what time did the school call you and at what time did you call the women leader?
Resp. It was in the morning.
This is a rural area. Usually, when there is information, from 6 o’clock they ring the gong. Because most women go to market and farm so when they eventually converge was about 8 pm and called me around after 9 to 10 to ask me about my own version of the story and on informing them they sent for Ikemefula who has already run away from the community. So they decided to invite the father who bluntly refused to come and said he had gone to sleep. So, the women became agitated and came to the compound and kept knocking and it took the man over 30 minutes and he reluctantly opened the door and told the women that there is nothing he can do. And as they can see that the boy is so stubborn and he is so tired of the child and that left for him he wants to lock the boy under police custody but because his other son had a police case and they were mandated to pay 500 thousand naira and that’s why he doesn’t have money to lock him up
The women leader asked him what care he had extended to the parent of the child and he said he hadn’t done anything.
So, they mandated him to take the child to the hospital in order to ascertain the health status of the child and ensure that chidera doesn’t have any infection or health issues, because the boy is known for having indiscriminate sexual acts with kids.
Eventually, by 27th Ikemefuna’s fathers took us to the primary health center where the head of the primary health center, a Pastor’s wife in a Methodist church said this wasn’t a primary health care issue that they should go to a tertiary health institution where the doctor would examine her and give proper reports.
We eventually went on the 28th to the Federal Medical Center, (FMC ), Umuahia.
Q. Who sponsored Chidera’s medical examinations?
Resp. The women of the community paid the bills. The chairlady, I and my brother’s wife (Ifeoma) alongside my child went to the hospital with the assistance of one of our sisters who works in FMC and she helped us assess the medical doctors early.
And upon examination, the doctor confirmed that the child had constantly been abused and has lost her virginity and the hymen gone.
We then returned back to the community, and the men and women had a kind of congress at a place known as Ogwuama and it was decided that it was an abomination.
Q. what about your wife, Chidera’s mother?
Resp. My wife left us after giving birth; Chidera is my first child and then I had my twins, they were about six months when my wife left immediately after weaning them. She left the kids for me and I have been catering for them single handedly
Q. So, and the twins around?
Resp. One eventually passed on, so I am left with one. So, I’m left with two children: a male and a female, with chidera as the eldest child.
Q. Who is Ikemefuna ito Chidera?
Resp. Ikemefuna is Chidera ‘s uncle
Q. Who is the traditional ruler of this community and is he aware of this incident?
Resp. Yes, the traditional ruler,. HRM, EzeInnocent Nwaigwe is aware and is also part of this community
Q. You bear similar names, are you related to each other?
Resp. Yes, he is my uncle, we share the same surname. My father and his are cousins
Q. Is your father still alive?
Resp. No my father passed on last year.
Q. So far, what are the king and community doing about the situation?
Resp. Nothing has actually happened, because that week that the issue was reported, some youth who became so angry went to the neighbouring community, Umuekwule where he ran to and brought him back and on bringing him back, they took him to the Igwe’s palace, where the Igwe begged them not to take action as they were ready to drag Ikemefuna to the police station. So he begged them that they will handle it in their community way where the will perform a ritual known as Isuogwu
A Kind of exonerating him from any consequences that the gods of the land will have upon him and he was asked to buy some certain items.
Q. Who was asked to buy the items?
Resp. Ikemefuna and his father
And it was agreed that I shouldn’t add my money into it. And they gave him four market days.
Q. And have the four market days elapsed?
Resp. It has elapsed.
The four market days have elapsed; the 1st one has elapsed, they converged again but he said they should give him more time that he wants to go to Nkwuoegwu market to be able to buy the items, that elapsed last week monday. Still, when they now converged on Tuesday, Ikemefuna and His father were nowhere to be found, he didn’t come. They didn’t’t honour that invitation by the men and the excos of the community. Also it was now agreed that they were going to give him this week.
Q. There are rumours that the king stopped the arrest the rapist. Could you, please, confirm that assertion.
Resp. Yes, he is shielding the rapist from being arrestead because they share a family relationship, he is his nephew. and this is not the first time this is happening.
Q. Is the king aware that it has been happening?
Resp. Yes, he is aware of all that transpired.
Q. We learn that the king doesn’t want the boy to be arrested alleging that the parents do not have money. Is that correct?
Resp. Yes, the assumption they all have is that I do not have money and that if I go to the police station, it will cost me some fortune and they don’t want the issue to go into the police hands, they want to handle it internally but, this has been the regular occurrence of this boy and the king is not doing anything about it. Because he doesn’t get punished each time he does this act by using small children he ends up getting away, they cover up and nothing is done about it.
Q. Is this Ikemefuna in any way suffering from mental retardation?
Resp. No! He’s stable, he doesn’t have any mental issues. Since this happened, the father always takes him to the shop.
Q. What does his father do for work?
Resp. The father sells electrical appliances such as bulbs and sockets.
The father is an electrician; he has taught this boy wiring. This boy has a trade. so, it’s not as if he is idle, just a habit that he forms overtime with the help of his father, his mother and some members of his family who has always been condoning his attitude.
Q. As the father of the victim, please, what do you want?
Resp. I want justice to be served and secondly, due to my economic status I would like relevant government agencies to rehabilitate my daughter because she is already damaged psychologically. She has already started practicing it with other children, even my son is not even safe, no child is safe in the community. So my appeal is for relevant agencies to come to my aid and make sure this issue is not swept under the carpet as it usually happens but make sure justice is served.
Q. Talking about taking the child for rehabilitation, so, will you want the child to be taken away from you?
Resp. If that is the solution to this, I have no objection for the relevant organization to takeover to train her but that will even give her access to good education in the near future and it will also help her recover fast
Q. Does this affect her academic performance?
Yes, it does because since this thing happened, the trauma is written all over her. She’s always withdrawing and to my greatest surprise the women in the community are blaming the little child for not telling me and some people bully her by calling her old woman who now sleeps with men that she is no longer a child. So the first thing is to withdraw her from the community and perhaps return her when she is of age. That is just the aim, that is what I want for my child. I really want the best for my child and I believe that a new environment and access to education is the only way out.
Those were the responses from Mr. Uche Igwe.
Meanwhile, in line with doctors report, which according to her father, recorded several damages in her vigina, our Correspondent who spoke with the victim confirmed that Chidera was not only traumatised by the countless sexual abuses but also stigmatized by the teases and taunts from women who ought to have consoled her and restore her confidence.
However, when contacted on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, the traditional ruler, with a thunderous voice queried how our Reporter got his contact and persistently asked who gave her the information.
This is even as our Reporter had politely asked to confirm the claims by Igwe regarding the role of the revered royal father in either allowing the Law to take its course or otherwise.
The king was said to have spoken with an unprecedented indignation, leaving our reporter in utter shock as to the why of his infuriation.
Subsequent efforts to get the reaction of the king proved futile as he ignored the call from our Reporter on that fateful Tuesday evening.
Furthermore, in a related development, the Chairman of the Community, Mr. Nwosu Chinonso, urged our Reporter in a telephone conversation to exonerate the king from the blame.
Hear him:
“Please, madam, whatever thing you want to do, leave the traditional ruler out of it and just do another minor stuff.” He pleaded.
When told about the traditional ruler’s reaction to our Reporter, Mr. Nwosu said:
“The only thing is just that, exempt him from what happened. That’s the only thing I can just tell you.”
Moreso, another who pleaded for anonymity confirmed the incident during a phone call conversation, today, Thursday, June 19.
In his words:
“We know about it and one of the things that have done was to alert the women leader who gathered some other women.”
Asked if the community had performed the rituals as allegedly suggested by the traditional ruler, he said:
“They’ve not done anything about the ritual yet. The reason is because the father of the boy pleaded for some time to enable him get the necessary items.
Asked why some women were teasing and taunting Chidera amidst her predicaments, he said:
“Of a truth I’ve never heard about such and if we hear such, we’ll do something about it.”
On whether the traditional ruler is truly shielding the suspect as alleged, he responded unequivocally, saying:
I wouldn’t say that he has done so directly but indirectly, I would say he has done so.
