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| Ese Orusu |
The mother of 14-year-old Ese Oruru has finally reunited with her daughter in Abuja.
The Tuesday reunion came almost eight
months after her abduction from Bayelsa to Kano State by Yunusa, aka
Yellow, a regular customer at her mother’s food stall, in August last
year.
In an exclusive, but brief chat with a Punch correspondent at about 9.45pm yesterday, Ese sounded happy on the telephone.
She said, “Hello,” and laughed when our correspondent spoke to her.
“How are you?” Our correspondent asked. She laughed and replied ‘Fine.”
“We are glad you are safe and on your way back home.”
“Who is this,” she asked.
“How was your journey?”
“We have not started the journey, maybe tomorrow,” she said, probably referring to the onward trip to Bayelsa.
“Hope they treated you well and you are fine?”
“I am not fine,” she said curtly.
“Why?”
She replied, “When I come we should see. I don’t know you.”
“I will be looking forward to meeting you,” our correspondent replied.
Govs, reps call for Yunusa, accomplices’ trial
THE governors of Kano and Delta states,
as well as members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanded
the immediate prosecution of the abductor of 14-year-old Ese Oruru,
Yunusa, aka Yellow, who also forced her into marriage and conversion to
Islam.
The minor had on Monday been rescued
from Kano State, where she had been taken to by her paedophile captor,
Yunusa, barely 24 hours after The PUNCH newspapers inaugurated a campaign to free Ese.
Ese, who hails from Delta State, was abducted from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on August 12, 2015.
The Kano State Governor, Abdullahi
Ganguje, on Tuesday condemned the alleged abduction, adding nobody
brought the matter to his attention, noting that he only got to know
through the media.
This was contained in a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Mallam Mohammed Garba.
The state demanded the prosecution of Yunusa and others involved in the scandal.
The statement read in part, “The
government condemns the actions of the alleged abductor, as it is
against the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria and teachings of Islam which abhor abduction, forced marriage
even with the consent of parents of a girl, be her a minor or adult, and
forced conversion to Islam, as the Quran categorically states that
‘there is no compulsion in religion’.
“Security and other relevant agencies should expedite action to bring the suspect(s) to book according to the law.”
The Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi
Okowa, expressed shock at the abduction given the age of the girl and
the lack of consent by her parents.
In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, Okowa said he was saddened by the ordeal of the minor.
“I am very much interested in this case,
not only because the girl is an indigene of Delta State, but for the
rule of law. I want the police to pursue it to its logical conclusion.
Nothing
short
of diligent prosecution of the abductors will be satisfactory,” he
stated.
The governor, who expressed
disappointment at the length of time it took to unravel the incident,
urged members of the public to always speak up whenever they were
victims of undesirable social vices and pledged that the state was
taking steps to reach out to the parents for necessary intervention.
The House of Representatives members in
Abuja on Tuesday also asked the Federal Government to bring the “full
weight of the law” on Yunusa and other persons involved in the abduction
to serve as a deterrent to others who might be planning such acts in
the future.
The lawmakers said rescuing her was not a
compensation for the fact that a crime had been committed and her
fundamental human rights already violated.
The House Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor,
said the government must respond to the issue “more forcefully” by
ensuring that Yunusa and his accomplices were adequately punished.
Ogor said, “Whether the girl has been
rescued or not is not the issue because those people that are involved
in the criminality must be made to face the wrath of the law.
“We should go further to find out who
these culprits are. How were they able to perpetrate the crime? Who are
their supporters? Who are the people behind this dastardly act? We must
find them and make sure they face the wrath of the law.
“The public also must learn to speak out at this particular time so that some of these issues can easily be addressed.”
Ese hails from the
Ugheli-North/Ugheli-South Federal Constituency in Delta State. Her
Representative, Mr. Solomon Awhinahwi, also condemned the abduction.
“We have the laws to take care of this
type of crime. We should enforce them. People should desist from acting
as if we don’t have these laws,” he said.
Awhinahwi singled out PUNCH newspapers for commendation over the manner the media outfit inaugurates a campaign for the release of Ese.
“PUNCH newspapers did a
marvellous job. The way they started reporting the story, keeping it on
the front page, made the news to spread.
“I applaud the role of PUNCH in this fight and we thank all those who supported this fight,” he added.
Group, SAN back prosecution of Ese’s abductor
The Muslim Rights Concern has called for the arrest of Yunusa, aka Yellow, for abducting Ese Oruru from Bayelsa.
This is just as a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria, Mr. Norrison Quakers, said Yunusa should be prosecuted and
warned that the case should not be confused with religious sentiment.
MURIC in a statement on Tuesday by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, demanded that Yunusa should be prosecuted.
The statement read in part, “Our
position is based on the fact that the girl is a minor. Attempting to
marry off the girl without her parents’ permission is not only a breach
of common law, but also a violation of the Sharia provision on the need
for the parents’ approval before nikah (Islamic marriage) can be deemed
valid (La nikah bila waliyyin).
“Of particular significance in this
regard is the express command in the Glorious Qur’an that women should
be married with the permission of their parents. The Qur’an says inter
alia, ‘…And marry them (i.e. women) with the permission of their parents
(Qur’an 4:25).’
“The boyfriend cannot go scot-free if it
is established that he had had the carnal knowledge of the girl. In
fact, his case is judiciable both before the Kano Sharia Court and the
Yenagoa Court.
“The fact that Yunusa is a Muslim cannot
becloud our sense of justice. The Qur’an commands Muslims to ‘…Stand
out firmly for justice, as witnesses of Allah, even if the case is
against yourselves, or your parents, or your family, and whether it is
against a rich or poor man… (Qur’an 4:135).”
MURIC said it could not afford to be
partisan, adding that a fellow Muslim, Yunusa, had violated the law and
caused a Christian family to go through a traumatic period.
It said, “Unless it can be proved that
the girl came to Kano separately and alone, not in the company of
Yunusa, the latter stands culpable.”
According to the group, the issue of
Ese’s conversion does not even arise because she is deemed to be an
adherent of her parents’ religion until she attains maturity.
MURIC said, “Section 38 (ii) of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, stresses the
right of parents on their children in matters of religion. The purported
conversion is therefore null and void and of no consequence whatsoever.
Ese Oruru cannot be free to choose her own faith until she is 18.”
Quakers while rejecting any excuse of
elopement and calling for Yunusa’s prosecution, warned that the case
should not be confused with religious sentiment.
Quakers said, “The excuse that the girl
eloped with him will not protect him from being prosecuted. It is
scandalous. The child does not have the mental capacity to make a
rational or informed decision. It is wrong, wicked, criminal and inhuman
for anybody to take such a girl, who is obviously a minor, and then say
she eloped with him; that is a bad defence.
“And we should be very careful in the
way we handle this, lest two religions are put on a collision course.
This case has nothing to do with religion; we should not bring religious
sentiment into this. The question should be whether the Nigerian law
recognises what this man has done.”
Emir of Kano deserves no credit
The father of Ese, Mr. Charles Oruru, has indicted the Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi II, in his daughter’s travail.
Oruru, in an interview with Raypower FM,
which was monitored by our correspondent on Tuesday, said Sanusi
deserved no credit in the eventual release of Ese “as he only bowed to
pressure from Nigerians”.
Ese was taken from Opolo, in the Yenagoa
Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, to Kano State by Yunusa, aka
Yellow, in August, 2015.
Oruru said, “The Emir did not play any
role there. All security agencies in Yenagoa and in Abuja were also part
of those who refused to help.
“That is the truth because when we got
to Kano, we were told that the Emir had written a letter that the girl
should be released on August 26, 2015, and this was not done.
“They wanted to keep the girl in Kano,
but the pressure was everywhere after the whole world had heard about
the matter, so he knew that if he didn’t release the girl, it would lead
to a big problem.”
Sanusi had on Monday refuted claims that
he sheltered Ese, saying he had ordered that the girl be taken to her
parents since 2015.
The Emir, while speaking at a press
conference, in his palace said he got to know that the girl was still in
Kano when journalists from the BBC called him.
Sanusi had said, “Since the time we
ordered that the girl be taken to her parents in Bayelsa through AIG
Zone 1, we didn’t hear anything about her; just for us to now start
hearing all kinds of stories that we are keeping her in our custody.
This is injustice of the highest order.”
We can’t wait to see our sister
The family of Ese Oruru have expressed their joy over the release of the girl to the police.
Ese’s mother, Rose, told our
correspondent before she left for Abuja that she was informed by the
police at about 6am on Tuesday that her daughter had been released.
“I am so happy. In fact, I am bursting with joy,” she told our correspondent.
Afterwards, she left for the police
station for onward movement to Abuja to reunite with her daughter, who
was abducted by Yunusa, her long standing customer, and taken to Kano
State in August 2015.
Ese’s release came after PUNCH
inaugurated a campaign, ‘Free Ese’ on Sunday, which sparked nationwide
outrage and forced the authorities to take action on securing the
minor’s release from Yunusa in Kano.
Ese’s father also said he was earnestly waiting to set his eyes on his daughter.
He said, “These last eight months have
not been easy for us. Through the help of family members and friends, we
were able to raise money to travel to Kano to get her released, but
nothing came out of it.
“Now we are happy. The money is not
important. I am jobless for now, but I am so happy that my daughter is
alive and coming back home.”
Ese’s siblings were equally ecstatic about her release.
One of them, Faith, who will be 19 next week, could not hide her joy as she spoke with our correspondent.
“I am very happy that she has been
released. I can’t wait to see her. I have missed her funny smiles. She
is very playful. I also missed her dancing; she likes to dance whenever
she hears the sound of good music.”
Ese’s immediate elder brother, 16-year-old Onome, said they were planning to welcome her in a big way with her favourite food.
He said, “There will be music and lots of dancing. We are so relieved.
“We haven’t started preparing anything
yet since we don’t really know when Ese and mum would be back. But we
have so many plans, we just can’t wait.”
Patricia, the eldest, in her 20s, said
she was keeping her emotions in check for now because of previous
unfulfilled promises about Ese’s release.
“I don’t have any feelings yet until I
touch my sister. I don’t have any plan yet until my mum calls me and
tells me she has seen her daughter,” she said.
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