Operatives of the National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has arrested the late Ochanya‘s aunt, Mrs. Ogbuja who is suspected to have had knowledge of the nefarious act but refused to report or speak out.
The arrest of Mrs. Ogbuja said to be a Staff of the catering Department of the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, came about four weeks after intensive manhunt having disappeared from her house shortly after the tragic incident.
The late Elizabeth Ochanya Ogbaje, a 13 years old student of the Federal Government Girls College, Gboko, died on Sunday 21st October 2018 after a life battle with Vesico vaginal fistula (VVF) and other health complications at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi.
This was occasioned by the allegedly sexual abuse by one Andrew Ogbuja, Head of Department, Catering and Hotel Management at the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, Benue State, and his son, Victor Inalegwu Ogbuja, a final year student of Animal Production at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi.
In addition to the ongoing prosecution of the principal suspects in the case, the Director – General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Dame Julie Okah – Donli, immediately directed the Markudi Zonal Command of the Agency to arrest the said Mrs. Ogbuja and other accomplices for prosecution.
Giving detail of the arrest, the Markudi Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Mr. Ganiu Agaran, said it took the combined efforts of operatives of the Agency in Markudi, Lagos and even Abuja before she was arrested.
Report indicated that the suspect, who got hint of the plan to arrest her, had absconded to Lagos and later to Abuja before she finally returned to Markudi were she was arrested Friday afternoon.
Speaking on the development, NAPTIP Director – General, Dame Julie Okah Donli, said the suspect will be thoroughly investigated to ascertain her level of connivance in the incident and thereafter charged to court.
“I am still pained by the tragic death of the Late Elizabeth Ochaya Ogbaje and the only thing we can do to ensure that her groaning spirit rest in peace is to ensure that full dose of justice is served on all those that are directly or indirectly involved in the unwholesome act that led to her death.
“It is important to establish the status of people around the late girl who had knowledge of her ordeal and yet refused to report to the Law enforcement Agencies who would have rescued her.
“We cannot continue to fold our hands while our children are been sexually molested and assaulted by people that ought to have protected them.
This case at hand will be a case that will be monitored and all those linked in one way or the other shall all be made to face the full weight of the law.
“I also want to use this opportunity to appeal to all State Governors to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) which is presently applicable in the Federal Capital Territory. This Act is designed to ensure that our children and other vulnerable classes of the society are protected.
“It is important to point out that domesticating the VAPP is another form of giving the citizen real divided of democracy”, NAPTIP Director – General said.
