Operatives of the Kogi State Police Command have arrested the stepmother of the 11-year-old boy buried alive on Wednesday by the woman’s 17-year-old son.
The Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO) SP Williams Ovye-Aya(SP) said in Lokoja, the state capital, that the woman was arrested on Thursday.
Passers-by rescued the 11-year-old on Wednesday after he had been buried by his stepbrother in a bush at the Silo community in Zango Daji, the Adavi Local Government Area of the state.
The 11-year-old boy was alleged to have stolen N10,000 belonging to his stepmother who instructed her son to punish him.
In meting punishment to the 11-year-old, the 17-year-old took his stepbrother into the bush where he buried him alive.
Policemen immediately arrested the 17-year-old while the victim was rescued.
The PPRO said, “Our officers and men were able to arrest the stepmother on Thursday after a tip-off. She is now in our custody.
“She has made a statement to the police on the sad incident. We shall transfer the mother and son to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further interrogation of reasons behind such cruelty among family members.”
Meanwhile, the state government has promised to prosecute the boy.
The Kogi State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Fatima Buba, made the promise on Thursday in Lokoja when she spoke with journalists over the incident which she described as “very wicked” and “saddening.”
