The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has said that parents defending a Rivers State pastor arrested for flogging children during a so-called “spiritual cleansing” exercise require counselling to understand the dangers of their actions.
NAPTIP official in Rivers State, Nwamaka Ikediashi, made the statement on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Friday while giving updates on the case involving Pastor Ifediorah Joseph.
“It is a total case of child abuse, and the parents are victims,” Ikediashi said. “They are supposed to be made to understand the implications of this whole thing, and that can only be made possible via counselling.”
The pastor was arrested by the police for subjecting children to severe flogging during a three-day programme in the state, which he claimed was a “spiritual cleansing.”
However, following his arrest, some of the children and their parents went to the police station in Port Harcourt singing and dancing in solidarity with him.
One parent told journalists, “My daughter was among the children that was 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.”
Reacting to such statements, Ikediashi insisted the parents were also victims because of their lack of awareness. “If they did understand, they would not let their children be subjected to such inhuman treatment and torture,” she said.
