Endurance ‘Favour’ Obilor.
“When I took my niece to Ebere, she never had a single mosquito bite spot. I had to ask Hajia what happened. She said Favour’s body was like that when Ebere brought her. She insisted I should leave with Favour. She asked me to drop my account number that she was going to pay some money into it. I don’t have money let alone having an account number. So I took Favour and went home.”
Chioma said Favour’s father came to her house and took her to the hospital.
“He was the one that took Favour to the hospital. He dumped her there, and went away. I have not seen him since then,” she says.
And it was at the hospital that it was discovered that Favour had not only been physically abused, she had also been raped.
According to medical reports from Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja, Favour had stretch marks all over her body, her hymen was not seen and she had tenderness around her vagina area, showing that she had been sexually abused.
Favour, crouching at a corner in the commission’s office, looking afraid, refused to answer the questions Saturday Punch asked her.
It wasn’t until she was eventually promised that Hajia was not coming around that she decided to open up.
“They were always beating me in the house. The last time, they beat me so bad because I ate ‘Gala’, I hadn’t eaten in the afternoon and it was late in the night, so I took the ‘Gala’ and ate it. That’s why Aunty Oluchi and Akunna started beating me,” she recalls.
According to Favour, Oluchi and Akunna are not her only worry, her main fear, Hajia, pounces on her at every opportunity.
“She will lock me inside the house and beat me. She will also tell her children to be beating me as well,” she says.
Favour, said that she never tasted dinner in the house.
“I slept at the ‘gather’ (balcony). I slept on bare floor. I only ate in the morning and afternoon. I had never eaten at night in the house. Nobody had ever bought any clothe for me. I wore Hajia’s children’s discarded clothes.”
When asked if there were males living in the house, Favour said, “Yes. Aboy and Japan stayed in the house with us.”
And the two males, according to Favour, were the ones that abused her sexually.
“Every night, they will tell me to come inside the room. They will tell me to lie on the bed and they will ‘use’ me,” she cries.
Favour said she couldn’t tell her ‘aunties’ because the guys threatened they would kill her if she told anyone.
The coordinator of the Lagos State chapter of Human Rights Commission, Mrs. Mausi Segun, said they would deal with the matter properly.
“This is a criminal offence. We are not the police, but all we know is that everybody who in one way or the other abused this child, will pay for it. Those who beat her, those who raped her and even those who handed her to Hajia as a maid will pay. She is a minor. This is child trafficking. We will certainly not allow the matter to die. You can take that from us,” Segun said.
At the FESTAC home of Hajia, her neighbours confirmed that Favour was a terribly abused kid.
According to them, the child was always crying and her cries could be heard across the street.
“They will beat her morning, afternoon and night. The other day, one of them living in that house claimed Favour turned into a witch. But we knew it is a lie,” he said.
Another neighbour claimed Favour was treated in a better manner whenever Hajia’s husband was around.
“Her husband is always travelling. But whenever he is in town, they don’t beat Favour. We don’t hear her cries anymore,” she added.
Meanwhile, Aboy and Japan, who Favour claimed abused her, are still living in the house and yet to be arrested.
In her reaction, Hajia Ukaegbu said, “My dear, please I cannot talk now. I am somewhere. I will call you back later.”
Some minutes later, a male voice who identified himself as Hajia’s husband called Saturday Punch and demanded to know the reason the correspondent called.
When Saturday Punch explained briefly the reason for the call, the obviously irritated voice said, “You can call the police and get answers to what you are asking. The matter is with the police. The matter is with the Senate Committee on Police Matters. I must tell you that all those policemen who handled the matter so far are going to be sacked. You had better be careful with what you write. I have told you now. You had better be careful because I will sue you and sue your newspaper house.”
Much later, apparently wanting to exonerate herself from the tale, Hajia called Saturday Punch to react to the story.
According to her, Chioma, is a criminal and a blackmailer who wanted to extort money from her through all means.
Hajia claimed she had paid Chioma money many times, said she was surprised Chioma would deny ever getting a dime from her.
And as for Favour and the beatings, Ukaegbu swore that she never beat the child.
“The girl was staying at Okokomaiko before she was brought to my house. All those marks were on her body before she was brought to my house. I drive two jeeps. I am a successful business woman. I am not inhuman. I couldn’t have beaten the girl up like that despite the fact that Favour is a very bad girl. She steals a lot. The other day, she went to one school and she stole. I had been begging Chioma to come and take the child away from my house but nobody saw her,” Ukaegbu said.
On the issue of rape, Ukaegbu said there was no way anybody in her house would have abused Favour?
“Forget the medical reports you said you have. Anybody can go to any length to get a medical report if they want to incriminate somebody. Chioma told Favour to say she was raped. If she was raped, how come the police threw the matter away? Why didn’t the police arrest the boys? They know Favour is lying and that she was told to say she was raped. The Japan she is talking about is a big man. I have more than four big girls in my house. How come Japan didn’t rape any of them but Favour.
“How can she say Aboy raped her? Aboy is my husband’s nephew. He just came to the house two weeks ago. He doesn’t even live with us. How can Favour say Aboy raped her? Anybody that wants to write any story should be concerned about the truth. I have trained so many people in my life. I wonder why I should have a problem when all I wanted to do was to help Favour who the aunt claimed her father abandoned?” she said.
Public Relations Officer, The Lagos State Police PRO, Samuel Jinadu, claimed he wasn’t aware Favour was raped.
“It wasn’t reported that she was raped. I will find out the details and get back to you,” Jinadu said.
Source:onlinenigeria
She is traumatised, scared and looks hungry. She’s been abused, beaten and raped. ’NONYE BEN-NWANKWO relates the experience of eight-year old Endurance ‘Favour’ Obilor.
Her aunt, Chioma, who brought her to the commission, unwillingly and after much persuasion, agreed to tell Saturday Punch how Favour’s trauma began.
Favour’s dad, Chioma said, is her elder brother who married a ‘Calabar woman’ that abandoned her three kids and took off. Chioma, who claimed she was a petty trader in Agbara, a suburb of Lagos, said the burden of taking care of her nieces became too heavy for her to bear. As such, she had to look for help to relieve her.
Eventually, she said, her friend, Ebere, came into the scene and decided to help her. She (Ebere) took Favour to stay with her.
When Saturday Punch asked Chioma if she sought the consent of Favour’s father before giving out the child, Chioma got so angry, feeling the question was insulting.
“Why should you ask me that kind of question? He couldn’t have stopped me from giving out the child,” she exlaimed.Anyway, Chioma said she never knew that her friend handed her niece over to another woman named ‘Hajia.’
“One day, I called my friend and asked after Favour. She told me she had to take her to one Hajia house. I asked her why she didn’t bother telling me. I asked her if this was our arrangement. I wasn’t happy. But Ebere told me not to worry, that Hajia would take care of Favour, that was when I relaxed,” she says.
Saturday Punch asked Chioma if she ever collected money from Ebere or Hajia, in exchange for Favour’s services. She said, ‘no.’
And since her friend told her Favour was in good hands, Chioma said she never bothered to go and check out the welfare of her niece.
“I thought she was okay. Ebere told me she was okay and I believed her. I didn’t go to check where she was because Ebere told me Favour was okay,” she says.
And if not for a phone call, according to her, she wouldn’t have known that her niece was in a terrible state.
“I was at home one day and somebody ‘flashed’ me. I had to call the number and the person said she was Hajia. I quickly cut off the phone. How can Hajia ‘flash’ me? She is a big woman! But later, she called me back and she was shouting and said I should come and carry Favour from the house because she wouldn’t want somebody to die in her house. I didn’t understand what she was saying. But she insisted I should come to the house, that was how I went to her house,” Chioma narrates.
Chioma said she got to the FESTAC home of ‘Hajia’ and saw somebody who looked like her niece.
“I couldn’t believe the person I saw was Favour. I saw her body and tears started rolling from my eyes. Her eyes were swollen. I asked her what happened to her and she said it was a stick. It was later that one of Hajia’s children told me Favour was lying and that it was an Aunty Akunna and an Aunty Oluchi that beat her because Favour stole sausage roll,” she says.
Chioma told Saturday Punch that she immediately called Hajia, who said she was out of town, to find out why her niece’s body had so many scars.When Saturday Punch asked Chioma if she sought the consent of Favour’s father before giving out the child, Chioma got so angry, feeling the question was insulting.
“Why should you ask me that kind of question? He couldn’t have stopped me from giving out the child,” she exlaimed.Anyway, Chioma said she never knew that her friend handed her niece over to another woman named ‘Hajia.’
“One day, I called my friend and asked after Favour. She told me she had to take her to one Hajia house. I asked her why she didn’t bother telling me. I asked her if this was our arrangement. I wasn’t happy. But Ebere told me not to worry, that Hajia would take care of Favour, that was when I relaxed,” she says.
Saturday Punch asked Chioma if she ever collected money from Ebere or Hajia, in exchange for Favour’s services. She said, ‘no.’
And since her friend told her Favour was in good hands, Chioma said she never bothered to go and check out the welfare of her niece.
“I thought she was okay. Ebere told me she was okay and I believed her. I didn’t go to check where she was because Ebere told me Favour was okay,” she says.
And if not for a phone call, according to her, she wouldn’t have known that her niece was in a terrible state.
“I was at home one day and somebody ‘flashed’ me. I had to call the number and the person said she was Hajia. I quickly cut off the phone. How can Hajia ‘flash’ me? She is a big woman! But later, she called me back and she was shouting and said I should come and carry Favour from the house because she wouldn’t want somebody to die in her house. I didn’t understand what she was saying. But she insisted I should come to the house, that was how I went to her house,” Chioma narrates.
Chioma said she got to the FESTAC home of ‘Hajia’ and saw somebody who looked like her niece.
“I couldn’t believe the person I saw was Favour. I saw her body and tears started rolling from my eyes. Her eyes were swollen. I asked her what happened to her and she said it was a stick. It was later that one of Hajia’s children told me Favour was lying and that it was an Aunty Akunna and an Aunty Oluchi that beat her because Favour stole sausage roll,” she says.
“When I took my niece to Ebere, she never had a single mosquito bite spot. I had to ask Hajia what happened. She said Favour’s body was like that when Ebere brought her. She insisted I should leave with Favour. She asked me to drop my account number that she was going to pay some money into it. I don’t have money let alone having an account number. So I took Favour and went home.”
Chioma said Favour’s father came to her house and took her to the hospital.
“He was the one that took Favour to the hospital. He dumped her there, and went away. I have not seen him since then,” she says.
And it was at the hospital that it was discovered that Favour had not only been physically abused, she had also been raped.
According to medical reports from Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja, Favour had stretch marks all over her body, her hymen was not seen and she had tenderness around her vagina area, showing that she had been sexually abused.
Favour, crouching at a corner in the commission’s office, looking afraid, refused to answer the questions Saturday Punch asked her.
It wasn’t until she was eventually promised that Hajia was not coming around that she decided to open up.
“They were always beating me in the house. The last time, they beat me so bad because I ate ‘Gala’, I hadn’t eaten in the afternoon and it was late in the night, so I took the ‘Gala’ and ate it. That’s why Aunty Oluchi and Akunna started beating me,” she recalls.
According to Favour, Oluchi and Akunna are not her only worry, her main fear, Hajia, pounces on her at every opportunity.
“She will lock me inside the house and beat me. She will also tell her children to be beating me as well,” she says.
Favour, said that she never tasted dinner in the house.
“I slept at the ‘gather’ (balcony). I slept on bare floor. I only ate in the morning and afternoon. I had never eaten at night in the house. Nobody had ever bought any clothe for me. I wore Hajia’s children’s discarded clothes.”
When asked if there were males living in the house, Favour said, “Yes. Aboy and Japan stayed in the house with us.”
And the two males, according to Favour, were the ones that abused her sexually.
“Every night, they will tell me to come inside the room. They will tell me to lie on the bed and they will ‘use’ me,” she cries.
Favour said she couldn’t tell her ‘aunties’ because the guys threatened they would kill her if she told anyone.
The coordinator of the Lagos State chapter of Human Rights Commission, Mrs. Mausi Segun, said they would deal with the matter properly.
“This is a criminal offence. We are not the police, but all we know is that everybody who in one way or the other abused this child, will pay for it. Those who beat her, those who raped her and even those who handed her to Hajia as a maid will pay. She is a minor. This is child trafficking. We will certainly not allow the matter to die. You can take that from us,” Segun said.
At the FESTAC home of Hajia, her neighbours confirmed that Favour was a terribly abused kid.
According to them, the child was always crying and her cries could be heard across the street.
“They will beat her morning, afternoon and night. The other day, one of them living in that house claimed Favour turned into a witch. But we knew it is a lie,” he said.
Another neighbour claimed Favour was treated in a better manner whenever Hajia’s husband was around.
“Her husband is always travelling. But whenever he is in town, they don’t beat Favour. We don’t hear her cries anymore,” she added.
Meanwhile, Aboy and Japan, who Favour claimed abused her, are still living in the house and yet to be arrested.
In her reaction, Hajia Ukaegbu said, “My dear, please I cannot talk now. I am somewhere. I will call you back later.”
Some minutes later, a male voice who identified himself as Hajia’s husband called Saturday Punch and demanded to know the reason the correspondent called.
When Saturday Punch explained briefly the reason for the call, the obviously irritated voice said, “You can call the police and get answers to what you are asking. The matter is with the police. The matter is with the Senate Committee on Police Matters. I must tell you that all those policemen who handled the matter so far are going to be sacked. You had better be careful with what you write. I have told you now. You had better be careful because I will sue you and sue your newspaper house.”
Much later, apparently wanting to exonerate herself from the tale, Hajia called Saturday Punch to react to the story.
According to her, Chioma, is a criminal and a blackmailer who wanted to extort money from her through all means.
Hajia claimed she had paid Chioma money many times, said she was surprised Chioma would deny ever getting a dime from her.
And as for Favour and the beatings, Ukaegbu swore that she never beat the child.
“The girl was staying at Okokomaiko before she was brought to my house. All those marks were on her body before she was brought to my house. I drive two jeeps. I am a successful business woman. I am not inhuman. I couldn’t have beaten the girl up like that despite the fact that Favour is a very bad girl. She steals a lot. The other day, she went to one school and she stole. I had been begging Chioma to come and take the child away from my house but nobody saw her,” Ukaegbu said.
On the issue of rape, Ukaegbu said there was no way anybody in her house would have abused Favour?
“Forget the medical reports you said you have. Anybody can go to any length to get a medical report if they want to incriminate somebody. Chioma told Favour to say she was raped. If she was raped, how come the police threw the matter away? Why didn’t the police arrest the boys? They know Favour is lying and that she was told to say she was raped. The Japan she is talking about is a big man. I have more than four big girls in my house. How come Japan didn’t rape any of them but Favour.
“How can she say Aboy raped her? Aboy is my husband’s nephew. He just came to the house two weeks ago. He doesn’t even live with us. How can Favour say Aboy raped her? Anybody that wants to write any story should be concerned about the truth. I have trained so many people in my life. I wonder why I should have a problem when all I wanted to do was to help Favour who the aunt claimed her father abandoned?” she said.
Public Relations Officer, The Lagos State Police PRO, Samuel Jinadu, claimed he wasn’t aware Favour was raped.
“It wasn’t reported that she was raped. I will find out the details and get back to you,” Jinadu said.
Source:onlinenigeria
No comments:
Post a Comment