Nwamaka Ikediashi, an official of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in Rivers State, has said that parents of some minors brutally flogged by a pastor during a “spiritual cleansing” exercise require counselling.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, Ikediashi described the incident as a “total case of child abuse,” stressing that the parents are also victims who need to understand the implications of their actions.
The pastor, identified as Ifediorah Joseph, was arrested by the police in Rivers State for flogging children during a three-day programme under the guise of “spiritual cleansing.”
Following his arrest, some of the children and their parents stormed the police station in Port Harcourt, singing and dancing in solidarity with the pastor.
One parent said, “My daughter was among the children purified. The message was that death was in the air, and they should purify the children. They did the purification with pigeon blood, water, and palm fruit.”
Ikediashi maintained that proper counselling would help the parents understand that such practices amount to inhuman treatment and torture of children.
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