Man arrested for giving his underage daughter’s hand in marriage

The Anambra State Government has arrested a man who gave out his underage daughter’s hand in marriage.

The suspect, identified as Uzochukwu Okoli, was arrested after his daughter reported to the state Ministry of Women and Social Welfare about the ill-treatment being meted out to her by her father and the man he forced her to marry.

Chidimma Ikeanyionwu, the Media Aide to the state Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, May 2, 2024.

Ikeanyionwu said the girl, identified as Chioma, who is currently 16 years old, told the ministry that after the death of their mother, their father brought her back from Edo State, where she was going to school to take a husband.

The statement read, “She alleged that she was first forced to live with a 70-year-old man at the age of 14, but after some time, she ran back to her father’s house before he finally gave her out to a 34-year-old Chinedu as husband.