Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
IGP, Baba
The earnest desire of 13-year-old Joy is to be
educated, at least to the university level. However, that dream was doomed
because her father, who is a security guard to a professor (name withheld),
lecturing at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike (AE-FUNAI),
Ebonyi State, had repeatedly told her that he did not have the financial
resources to enroll in her school.
However, fortune seemed to have heard her
cries and prayers and had come smiling at her. Her dad told her that his boss,
the professor, who is over 70 years old, needed a live-in-maid that would be
taking care of his two-year-old son.
The lecturer discussed his requirements with
Joy’s father, and the security guard promised to bring Joy could do the work.
The security guard mentioned Joy after the professor promised that he would personally
sponsored the lucky employee from primary school to the university.
Joy came and true to his words, the professor enrolled
her in school. Although she was supposed to be in junior secondary school
(JSS3), the professor for reasons she could not fathom enrolled her in Primary
3. The girl did not complain with her mind fixated in attaining university
level
But what she thought was the luckiest break
for her, soon became her worst nightmare, as the professor turned her into his
sex toy.
Joy revealed that the professor had sexually
violated her several times.
The nightmare started in June, when she woke
and saw the professor lying naked beside her.
Joy said: “I saw bloodstains on the bed sheet.
In the morning I told my father and he took me to a laboratory where they
conducted a pregnancy test on me. The nurse said I was not pregnant, but that I
had lost my virginity. I didn't understand what she meant. When I got to
school, I asked my teacher what it meant to lose one’s virginity, and she
explained it to me. I started seeing my period that same June, and I told my
teacher about it. She came to the house with me, to tell the professor that I
had started menstruating. After she left, he started coming to my room every
night and doing what I don't like.”
Joy repeatedly told her father about the
abuse, but he urged her to continue living with the professor because he still didn’t
have money to send her to school.
Joy narrated: “I stayed until I couldn't
endure it anymore. I went to my teacher and told her what I was passing
through. The matter was reported to the Human Rights Commission and that was
how Police got to know about it. I didn't know when he slept with me in June. I
don't know if he gave me something to drink. I just woke up and saw him lying
naked beside me. But in August, I became aware of what was happening because by
this time he had started coming to my room at 2am. This made me unable to
sleep. He made it an everyday affair. It was that August I started reporting to
my dad, to my mom who is in the village and to my teacher.”
The professor was arrested, but everyone was
shocked when he was released some hours later.
Joy recalled: “Police asked me to move my
things to my father’s security post. I have stayed with him for two years now.
I help him in taking care of his two-year-old son. The child was born by my
maternal aunt; my mom’s younger sister, who was brought by my father to serve
him. He got her pregnant. I can't go back to him! I'd rather stop schooling! My
sister was 17 years old when he got her pregnant. After delivery, she ran away,
and then my dad brought me from the village to babysit the boy who is now two
years old. When he discovered that I had exposed him, he started making
arrangements for another person who will come and stay with him by the end of
this November,” said Joy.
She recalled that the professor promised to
marry her after he must have finished paying for her education to the
university level.
In Ebonyi State, rape is on the increase with
the alleged perpetrators having their ways despite various efforts to curtail
the crime. It is against this backdrop that the Ebonyi State
Gender-Based Violence Taskforce was compelled to visit the Ebonyi State
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Garba Aliyu. The Gender-Based Violence Taskforce
was inaugurated by USAID under its Health Policy Plus Programme to curb all
forms of violence against women, girl and children. Members of the taskforce
team are selected from different sectors in the society.
Mrs. Faithvin Nwancho, who led the taskforce
team to see the CP, mentioned some cases that had not received professional
handling. One of such cases is the professor’s molestation of Joy, which was
lodged at Central Police Station, Abakaliki. There was also the case of a
popular cleric, Ambassador Ephraim Ononye of Power House of Prayer
Interdenominational Ministry, Abakaliki, Obosi, Anambra State, reported at
Kpirikpiri Police Station, Abakaliki. There is also the case of a young lady
who was raped. She reported the case to Unwanna Police Station, Afikpo North
Local Government Area, amongst several others.
Nwancho, a lawyer, alleged that the cases have
been compromised at the various divisions where they were reported. She
implored the CP to ensure justice for the survivors.
She said: “We’re feeling incapacitated because
the bottlenecks are making it tough, but we have come to the crossroads. We do
not know how to go about it and so decided to meet you as the security head in
the state. We can’t do much around this area without your advice. We have about
six cases of abuse which are pending in various police
divisions. For instance, there’s a professor at FUNAI, who had been
sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl. A complaint was made to the police and
the man was arrested, but our greatest dismay is that the man was quickly
released. He was not a first offender. He got another girl pregnant six years
ago in 2017. The girl dropped out of school, and just six years
after that, this is another case against him. We don’t know what kind of
investigation was carried out.”
She also explained to Aliyu the drama
surrounding the case of Pastor Ononye.
“This case has lasted for three months now.
This man is a Pastor in Abakaliki here; he opened a church at Anambra, Obosi to
be precise. What he does is that he will come, recruit girls and move them with
him, children not girls. He will carry them to Anambra and keep
them. One day, he went out and the children ran to Ebonyi State. When he came
back, he started looking for them and made inquiries; he was told that the
girls were in Ebonyi State. He sent his lawyer to go and arrest the children.”
Nwancho said that it was during investigation
police discovered that the pastor had been sexually molesting the girls. This
compelled the taskforce to step into the matter.
She said that the pastor was invited and since
then, three months ago, nothing had been heard about the case. She also told the
CP that the pastor was not even arrested. The police boss vowed to ensure the
rape suspects were re-arrested and brought to book. He said allowing the
suspects to be running about in the environment was very disastrous.
He encouraged the taskforce to even go the
extra mile in reporting to the organisations where the suspects are working so
that they would know about their actions and act accordingly.
He added: “The purpose of punishing people is
not that we don’t like their faces, but to let others see that the person had
been dealt with accordingly. It will stop others from committing such crimes.”
The Public Relations Officer FUNAI, Elom
Ubochi, said the management of the school was yet to receive an official report
or complaint on the alleged crime committed by the professor, adding
immediately if it received the complaint, the matter would be dealt with
accordingly.
The International Federation of Women Lawyers
(FIDA) in the state said that the number of rape cases it has handled within
this year was 63. The state Chairman of FIDA, Grace Iheanacho-Chima, said that
cases reported to them between 2020 to the third quarter of 2021, under review would
have been more than one hundred in number if not because of constant
abandonment of cases by complainants' families.
She explained that out of the 63 cases
recorded, 25 victims were between the ages of one to 10 years old. She added
that 14 of them were between ages 11 to 18 and 24 were full grown adults.
She explained that among challenges
affecting success stories in handling rape cases was pending case of rape, with
many swept under carpet or compromised by security agents.
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