By Sunny A. Ijomah
On 30th of January, 2019, news broke about a 15-year-old girl identified as Chinwe who was forcefully married off to a mentally challenged man in Ozubulu community, Anambra State.
There was a public outcry which attracted the attention of the authorities after the report of the marriage between 15 years old Chinwe and a 56-year-old Izuchukwu Igwilo of the popular and wealthy Igwilo family of Anambra State emerged.
The news went viral after a Nigerian entrepreneur, Vivian Queenstine Diora, who cried out on Facebook, revealed that Izuchukwu, the groom suffers from mental illness and alcohol addiction.
Following the public outcry, the State Commissioner for Women’s and Children’s Affairs, Lady Ndidi Mezue, intervened and Chinwe was retrieved form the Igwilos.
She was rehabilitated, trained in tailoring and empowered with other 100 Ndi Anambra by Industrial Training Fund, ITF.
Currently, there is cheering news from Anambra State as Miss Chinwe returned to school on October 8th, 2019.
Concluding the process of healing and rehabilitation, Chinwendu was accompanied by the Honorable Commissioner, her elderly father and some staff of the ministry of women and children affairs to the school where she will continue with her education.
