Miss
Adefowokan Tosin Esther was only 15 when she fled from home because of
her paternal grandparents’ attempt to circumcise her forcibly. That was
two years ago. Now she is 17.
But nobody know her whereabouts ever since. Esther did not just run away because of female genital cutting. She had a good reason to. Esther watched her younger sister, Omodunni, die after she was forcibly circumcised.
The missing girl’s uncle, Mr Yomi Adesegha, said Esther fled the family home in Akute, a border town between Lagos and Ogun since December 2012. He said: “The girls were living in Lagos with their mum, Mrs Dolapo Adefowokan and has visited their village in Awori, Lagos State, to spend Christmas with their grandmother when the incident happened.”
According to him, the grandmother and some family members had ordered the girls, Esther and Omodunni, to be circumcised before returning to their base. Omodunni was circumcised but it triggered excessive bleeding which eventually led to her death. Adesegha said that Omodunni died from injuries as a result of the crude traditional practice of female genital mutilation.
The victim, according to him, suffered severe excruciating pains for days after the mutilation of her genital before her death. He said: “It was the fear of falling victim of the same circumcision that made the elder sister, Esther, to flee the community and we reported the case to the police.
“Not long ago, someone told us that she was sighted in London in the United Kingdom by a family friend but we found the news difficult to believe because she would have established communication with the family, since many of us are aware of the circumstances that made her to run away in the first instance.
“I think that it is high time we stopped this obnoxious tradition of female genital mutilation especially among the Awori because of its dangerous consequences on the lives of young girls.”
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, said he was not aware of the case
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But nobody know her whereabouts ever since. Esther did not just run away because of female genital cutting. She had a good reason to. Esther watched her younger sister, Omodunni, die after she was forcibly circumcised.
The missing girl’s uncle, Mr Yomi Adesegha, said Esther fled the family home in Akute, a border town between Lagos and Ogun since December 2012. He said: “The girls were living in Lagos with their mum, Mrs Dolapo Adefowokan and has visited their village in Awori, Lagos State, to spend Christmas with their grandmother when the incident happened.”
According to him, the grandmother and some family members had ordered the girls, Esther and Omodunni, to be circumcised before returning to their base. Omodunni was circumcised but it triggered excessive bleeding which eventually led to her death. Adesegha said that Omodunni died from injuries as a result of the crude traditional practice of female genital mutilation.
The victim, according to him, suffered severe excruciating pains for days after the mutilation of her genital before her death. He said: “It was the fear of falling victim of the same circumcision that made the elder sister, Esther, to flee the community and we reported the case to the police.
“Not long ago, someone told us that she was sighted in London in the United Kingdom by a family friend but we found the news difficult to believe because she would have established communication with the family, since many of us are aware of the circumstances that made her to run away in the first instance.
“I think that it is high time we stopped this obnoxious tradition of female genital mutilation especially among the Awori because of its dangerous consequences on the lives of young girls.”
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, said he was not aware of the case
NEW TELEGRAPH
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