It has been over two weeks since Ugonna Aneke, the guardian of 16-year-old Favour (not real name), inflicted injuries on her while beating and “correcting” her in his home at Maraba Junction, Abuja.

Uchechukwu Egwuatu, Favour’s elder sister, told FIJ that the incident happened on April 7 and that since then, Aneke has shown no remorse.

Egwuatu told FIJ that Aneke is a distant relative and Favour had been living with him since 2016, when she was eight.

According to her, Favour told her that Aneke had beaten her with a broom and iron while narrating how she “innocently” gave Aneke’s wife’s phone to fraudsters.

“She told me that she and Aneke’s son were on their way to fetch water when they met a man who asked her where he could buy food. She told him he could only get food from hawkers or roadside food vendors,” said Egwuatu.

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“The man called another man standing on the other side of the road, who told Favour that he needed to borrow a phone to call his sick father, who was on admission in a hospital.”

She added that Favour and Aneke’s son left their buckets and returned home. Back at home, Favour took the phone that belonged to Aneke’s wife and gave it to the man so he could make a call with it, and the men went away with the phone.

Favour told Egwuatu that when Aneke returned home, he began scolding her and his son, and while she was attempting to narrate what had happened, he beat her with a broom and an iron.

“One of Aneke’s neighbours boarded a commercial motorcycle for her, and the rider brought her to my house in Karu, where we took her to a pharmacy to clean her wounds,” said Egwuatu.

Egwuatu told FIJ that she called Aneke on the night of the incident to inquire about what had happened.

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“He said he beat her with a broom,” said Egwuatu. “I told him that Favour said he beat her with an iron, and he told me that he could not remember.”

“The next morning, his wife came to my house to see how Favour was faring, but the man has not called since. Sometimes, his wife called and put it on loudspeaker, and he would listen to our conversations without saying anything to me. He has been silent about it.”

She also told FIJ that Aneke hardly beat Favour in the past and would report her if she misbehaved.

“He does not beat her often. Whenever she did something bad, he would tell us. We would scold and put her in order like the child she is,” said Egwuatu.

When FIJ called Aneke on April 10, he didn’t deny beating Favour. He also told FIJ that he did not know he had inflicted injuries on her.

“She just said some men came to her and she gave them the phone without remorse. We told her to apologise, but she just said she wanted to narrate what happened. Out of anger, I started beating her.  It was because she was running that the stick hit her head,” said Aneke.

“She is like a daughter to me. The truth is that I beat her, and I am not denying that. But it was at night, so I did not know she was injured, and I didn’t notice until they told me she was injured the following morning.

“I was trying to correct her, not torture her. That is the naked truth about it.”

When FIJ asked him if it was true that he beat her with an iron, he denied it and said it was a mopstick.

“It was a mopstick I could lay my hands on at the time. I have lived with her for more than ten years and have never abused her. I didn’t beat her in so many years. She ran off to her sister’s house.”

It has been two weeks since then, and Faith has been living with her elder sister in Karu, a community in Abuja.

Egwuatu told FIJ that when her family got news of her molestation, they decided not to involve the police or any organisation that could pursue this case because it was a “family affair,” but Ugonna has not shown any sign of remorse since the incident happened.

“He said he does not care about whatever happens and is unafraid of anyone. He also refused to pay her hospital bills. I had to pay it myself,” she told FIJ.

When FIJ contacted Aneke again on Wednesday, he hung up while this reporter was asking questions.

This reporter called hours later and he said there was nothing to discuss.

“You called me some weeks ago and I already told you all that happened. We have resolved it and there is nothing to discuss again. We have all moved on with our lives,” said Aneke.