A member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr Jonathan Ogbe, has allegedly raped a 12-year-old pupil in Bayelsa State.
Mr Ogbe was attached to the Asamabiri Community Primary School in Asamabiri community, Sagbama Local Government Area of the state.
The incident happened in September last year.
Ogbe, a 31-year-old and indigene of Kogi State, with the NYSC call up number as NYSC/ABU/2020/113131, abandoned service and has since refused to pick up his discharge certificate to avoid being de-kitted and handed over to the police for investigation.
Civil Society groups have accused the Bayelsa Police Command of foot dragging to arrest and prosecute the suspect.
The suspect allegedly lured the 12-year-old girl (name withheld), who was a pupil in the community primary school to his house and defiled her repeatedly without the knowledge of the parents.
Father of the victim, Nelson Gbaranbiri, said his wife brought his attention to some strange discharge found in the panties of his daughter while doing her laundry.
He said, “My wife brought my attention to the stains and discharges she usually finds in the panties of my daughter. When I asked about what happened to her private part, she told me that ‘uncle’ will beat her.”
Gbaranbiri claimed when he reported the incident to the Divisional Police Headquarters in Sagbama, no action was taken.
“They asked me to arrest the accused and bring him to the station. They even demanded that I pay them before they could drive down to arrest the suspect. I also met with the NYSC, they also showed signs of indifference. I have protested now to the Gender Response Initiative Team and hoping actions would be taken to arrest and prosecute this pedophile.”
A counsel to the victim’s family, A.O.Aniso Esq, petitioned the state police commissioner on 3rd September 2021 over the incident.
Chairperson of the State Gender Response Initiative Team (GRIT), Barr. Dise Ogbise, said the GRIT had received the petition and assured that they will reach out to the state police command for more updates as they anticipate a prompt response by the Police to the petition already served to them.
