A Non-governmental organisation, Justice
Development and Peace Commission (JDPI), on Thursday called for the arrest and
prosecution of one Mrs. Esther Abgundu for allegedly inserting hot knife in her
five-year-old niece's vagina.
The culprit
was said to have allegedly committed the act on the premise that the victim
allegedly ate out of her daughter's food.
A petition by the JDPI and Catholic Diocese of Ekiti addressed to
National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) explained that Abgundu had allegedly
earlier peppered the girl's genitals after allegedly beating her up in an
incident that has drawn emotions.
The victim,
Aondoaver Sewuesi, the JDPI added in the petition to the NHRC signed by its
Director,
Reverend Father Emmanuel Akingbade, "is a niece
to Abgundu and they reside together at Ijelu-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area
of Ekiti State."
JDPI said the incident occurred on November 26,
2017, adding: "The victim was babysitting the child of the respondent (Mrs
Abgundu), and in
the course of feeding the baby, the victim took a
spoon of the baby's food and ate it."
The petition reads: "This annoyed the
respondent so much that she inserted pepper in her genital. The respondent
further put a knife in the fire and inserted the hot knife in the victim's genital
and equally impressed the hot knife on the outer part of her genital. Still not
satisfied, she was beaten mercilessly and urged not to cry aloud."
JDPI said when it received the report of the
incident, its officials visited the community as well as the traditional ruler,
Oba Isaac Adetoyinbo Ajayi, explaining that "the Elejelu of Ijelu-Ekiti
confirmed the report and further informed us that he has notified the
Divisional Police Officer of Ilupeju-Ekiti of the incident and the latter sent officers
to arrest the respondent a day after the incidence was reported at the
palace."
Father Akingbade added that the monarch "confirmed
also that the victim was at the night of the incident rushed to the Ijelu-Ekiti
health centre for medical care."
According to the JDPI director, "We took
further step of visiting the health centre for verification and questioning,"
and further explained that the officials of the centre as well as the relatives
of the victim all confirmed the incident.
The NGO
lamented that the five-year-old girl had been a victim of "frequent
inhuman and degrading treatments," saying "we took a closer
look at the victim to confirm the incidence of
maltreatment, child abuse and molestation."
JDPI also alleged that Abgundu "was released
barely few hours after her arrest and boastfully roams the streets of
Ijelu-Ekiti freely and in peace as if nothing happened while the victim is
neither able to walk nor sit well and still groans in much pains and discomfort."
The JDPI described the alleged actions of Abgundu
against little Aondoaver as a "case of inhuman treatment, gross disregard for
human life and flagrant abuse if her human rights as enshrined in Chapter 4 of
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended."
It called on the NHRC to intervene in the
"matter of cruelty against the victim by ensuring that the respondent is
brought to book to serve as deterrent to whoever still engages in acts of
inhuman and degrading treatment of others, especially children."
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