In Search of a Vaccine Against Toxic Marriages, By Azu Ishiekwene

Even for a country notorious for its lack of regard for data, available statistics have shown that intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major concern in Nigeria. Whether it is physical, emotional or sexual violence, women are, most of the time, usually the victims.

Bad news has almost become a regular feature of Nigeria's daily narrative and lately it's been like a flood (pun intended).

But news of the ordeal of two-month-old Miracle Chikwe at the hands of his father in Owerri, Imo State, brings the flood of bad news to the kingdom of an epidemic. We need to find a moral vaccine - and urgently too.

According to media reports, the 31-year-old father, Confidence Amatobi, beat the baby with a plastic hanger in the middle of the night for disturbing her sleep. His wife had briefly left the room to relieve herself, and the baby's cry irritated her. In order to silence him, he whipped the little baby so hard and furiously that his hand broke.

He didn't stop there.

When his wife confronted him, he locked the mother and child in a room after grabbing her phone, to prevent her from calling for help.

And so, for two days, little Miracle was left in indescribable pain, locked up with his mother, while the broken hand rotted.

It was only after she managed to escape the room (reports don't specify how) that she was able to take Miracle in for help.

She also recounted how hospitals in the community refused to treat the baby before she finally arrived at the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Owerri, where the amputation was performed.

And so, little Miracle is now amputated, he no longer has his right hand, and his father is still on the run.

It is unlikely that the man's cruelty to the baby and his conversion of a room in the house into a temporary prison, was the first time he would show such brutality at home, especially towards his wife.

When a popular gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, died in April of alleged injuries from repeated beatings by her husband, many of us were heartbroken, literally.

It was such a pointless death. Osinachi's unique delivery of gospel songs over the years had endeared her to so many that she had only to shout and help would have reached her.

She was loved and adored.

Unfortunately, in less than six months, there will likely be yet another woman who has taken the "till death do us part" part of the wedding vow at face value. Then the screaming, the condemnations, the protests and eventually an arrest would happen, then we would rinse and repeat.

But love and public acceptance weren't the only viable currencies at his disposal.

It was also a commercial success. Reports indicated that Osinachi was the financially stronger part of the marriage, while Peter, the husband, benefited from her talent and hard work.

Still, she couldn't leave him, until she found herself in a body bag.

But who would have thought that after the tears, the countless analyses...