BY TONY NYONG, UYO

BABY Etimbuk John, a three-week old boy, had a close shave with death, but divine providence intervened to keep him alive perhaps as a destiny child. Man’s inhumanity against a fellow man came his way rather too early, with the result that he would have to live the rest of his life with one hand.

Having been delivered safe and sound, with hands gesturing and legs kicking, innocent and harmless Etimbuk could not have known he would soon lose one of his arms.

The people of the ever-quiet village of Udung Otung, in Oruk Anam Local Government Area, are still trying to come to terms with the tragic incident that visited the peaceful town, leaving the innocent baby a victim. Although the baby appeared calm when Vanguard Metro, VM, visited the hospital, his mother was still stunned by the tragedy, while the nurses were scared of talking.

The little baby, however, seemed to have become used to his condition as he seems undisturbed by the people that came to sympathise with the mother.

Before now, Etimbuk who looked frightened always cried profusely and refused the mother’s breast milk owing to his condition. His mother, Mrs. Enobong John, narrated how her son, who was born with two hands, lost his right hand due to the cruelty of Nathaniel John, his half-brother.

Kitchen chores

Enobong said she bathed her baby in the morning of Tuesday, September 27, 2011 and when the baby had slept after being breast-fed, she took him to bed and went for her kitchen chores. But three minutes after she left the baby, she heard him yelling from inside the room. She said that she took the cry to mean lack of warmth, and went on with the chores.

Cry of pain... Baby Etimbuk after his right hand was cut off by his step-brother

According to her, it was not until her first son, Israel John, went into the room and saw the baby covered in blood, that he ran out frightened and shouting. That was when she rushed inside to see what had happened and found the baby in a pool of blood, with his right hand cut off.

She stated that it was at that instance she recalled seeing Nathaniel John (27 years), her step-son, scurrying out of the room breathing heavily. “When I finished bathing and breast-feeding my baby, he began to sleep. I took him to bed and went into the kitchen to do some work. But his half-brother who is about 27 years old went inside and cut off his hand.

“He never stayed in Udung Otong, our village in Oruk Anam Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. He lived in Calabar. Anytime he came back home, he used to do things as if he was mentally-deranged. We never quarrelled. But he was in the habit of scaring away little children playing around, making noise, and often times would want to hurt them,” she told VM

She also informed that since the day Nathaniel amputated her son’s right hand, she has not seen him. Enobong told VM that after she raised alarm about what happened to her son, she later heard that the young men in the village in a vengeful fit of anger , carried out jungle justice on the suspect.

“I have not seen him since he amputated my son’s right hand. I learnt he had been apprehended by the young men of the village and had been killed. This happened on Tuesday, September 27,” she explained.

Enobong said that she did not know how she would be able to pay the hospital bills, adding that as a firewood seller, she hardly makes enough money to feed her family at home. Though happy that the baby is alive, she stated that the doctors told her that the wound would take some time to heal just as further treatment will require a lot of money.

She said her husband had not been working since he retired as a labourer many years ago, adding that he could not come to the hospital from Oruk Anam because he is old and infirm.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Akwa Ibom State Command, Mr. Onyeka Orji, said the act is a criminal offence. He stated that the police are investigating the matter, adding that the result of the investigation would prove whether Nathaniel is actually mentally deranged or not.

He said: “It is a great criminal offence. We are investigating the matter. The investigation would prove whether the man is a mad man or the act was a malicious one. That is a pointer to members of the public that they should not be too trusting. We should mind the kind of people we leave our children and wards with. People should properly screen the people they leave their children and wards with”.

Concerning the allegation that Nathaniel had been killed, Orji answered that he was unaware of the development as the matter is still being investigated by the police. The Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee, Dr. Emem Bassey, told VM that he needed to be careful with the matter since a government official had spoken with him on the telephone to be careful with issues concerning the amputation.

He made the remark when VM sought permission to speak with the mother of the baby in the hospital. The Executive Director of UyaiIban Akwa Ibom (a ministry dedicated to the helping of children), Mrs. Favour Onobo, said if not for her timely intervention the baby would have died.

She stated that Mr. Sunday John had been out of employment for a very long time because of old age and is even bedridden. She declared that the cost of getting the mother and the children to UUTH is borne by the organisation together with that of medical care.

Onobo is, therefore, calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of Mrs Enobong so that she could have her child back even though with one hand.