- As Idoma nation takes protest to National Assembly over Agatu killing
14-year-old Ese Rita Oruru, the Delta State-born girl-child, resident in Bayelsa, who was abducted by Yunusa Dahiru, alias Yellow, but rescued by the Police in Kano, has been discovered to be about five months pregnant, very reliable sources have told Vanguard.
Ese Rita Oruru, arrived Yenagoa yesterday and she is presently quartered at the police officers mess Yenagoa.
She came in company of her mother, Mrs Rose Oruru and securirity escorts who drove them quietly to the Offciers Mess.
Yunusa Yellow and Ese Oruru This came as Dahiru Bala, the biological father of Yunusa, declared, yesterday, that his son never cohabited with Ese Oruru because of embedded contraption highly offensive to his religion.
This is as some prominent Nigerians, including Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, former Lagos State Police Commissioner, Abubakar Tsav; Second Republic politician and lawyer, Guy Ikokwu and women NGOs, said the law should take its course on the matter and expressed anger over the teenager’s pregnancy.
It was gathered that the white Hijab she wore on her arrival from Kano on Tuesday was used to cover the pregnancy, even though her physical condition and looks created suspicion. Vanguard was told that it was the condition the Police authorities discovered about Ese that informed the IGP, Solomon Arase’s directive that she should be handed over to the Gender and Child Protection Unit.
A similar directive was given to a team from the Medical Department of the Force to carry out a comprehensive medical examination on the girl at the Police Medical Facility in Area 1, Garki, Abuja.
Upon certifying her medical status and emotional state, Vanguard gathered that the Inspector-General of Police, feeling uncomfortable with the transport arrangement of the mother that they returned by road, cancelled the arrangement and directed that both Ese and her mother be flown to Yenagoa.
Meanwhile, the IGP has directed the Bayelsa State Police Command to take over investigation of the case since, according to sources, the offence was committed in Bayelsa, which is the place of residence of the abductor, Yunusa Dahiru. Consequently, Vanguard was told that Yunusa would be moved to Yenagoa to face interrogation and prosecution for kidnapping and child abuse as well as violence against a girl-child.
The Inspector-General of Police had earlier vowed that Yunusa and all other actors in the seven-month-old abduction saga would be brought to justice. He said it was the only way the nation would make a clear statement in unison that any individual who violated the sanctity of the rights of children shall be dealt with in accordance with extant laws of the country.
The IGP spoke as Mrs. Rose Oruru, Ese’s mother, thanked all Nigerians, the Nigerian Police Force and well wishers, who assisted in one way or the other to ensure her daughter was brought back alive and safe, saying she could not say much for now.
Speaking through the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olabisi Kolawole at Force Headquarters, shortly before Ese’s mother, Mrs Rose Oruru, was led to take custody of her daughter, the IGP said: “Aside prosecution of the actors directly involved in this case, the Inspector General of Police has also ordered an in-house administrative inquiry designed to review the professional conduct of officers responsible for the initial investigation of this case. Any officer indicted of professional dereliction will be firmly dealt with accordingly.”
In the meantime, worried by the killings in Agatu Local Government in Benue State by suspected Fulani herdsmen, a coalition of civil society groups from the state, yesterday stormed the National Assembly to protest against the wanton destruction of lives and properties, and called for immediate deployment of soldiers and policemen to the area to maintain law and order.
Coordinator of the groups, Paul Ede who led others to express their grievances, said the killings in Agatu by suspected herdsmen had continued for weeks, and claimed that 400 persons had lost their lives to the invaders.
Ede who also claimed that there was a humanitarian crisis in the area, lamented that 5, 000 persons had been rendered homeless, however demanded that the federal government set up a commission of inquiry to find out the remote and immediate cause of the crisis.
The protesters also demanded for an immediate deployment of security operatives to Agatu to maintain law and order, pleading for relief materials to be sent to the internally-displaced persons in the town.
Addressing the protesters, Deputy Majority leader of the Senate, Bala Ibn Na’ Allah, who assured them that the senate would look into their demands, said, “As far as the senate is concerned an injury to one Idoma man is an injury to all. We are with you 100 percent in the protest. We will take these demands back to senate and decision will be taken on them.”
Other senators who received the protesters were Senators Stella Oduah, PDP, Anambra North; Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi West and Binta Garba, APC, Adamawa North.
Earlier, the protesters, had marched to the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and the ministry of justice where they demanded that the government should urgently intervene in the crisis.
Vanguard
