Gov Mbah: Stands up for justice
THE Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), has commended Enugu State Governor Dr. Peter Ndubisi Mbah, for stoutly standing on the path of justice over the case of alleged defilement and rape of a 14-year-old girl by one Mr. Charles Nnaike.
The group in a letter to Gov Mbah entitled “Your intervention prompt, very significant, commendable and gives hope to child rights in Nigeria,” and made available to SummitNews, noted that justice would have eluded the victim if the governor had not promptly intervened in the matter.
According to the letter signed by the President of the Rights Group, Barrister Olu Omotayo, the 14-year-old girl had steadily been raped by Nnaike and his friend since 2019.
Omotayo described Nnaike as the husband to the victim’s mistress, explaining that Nnaike started abusing the minor while she was in primary 6.
According to the letter, Nnaike was first arrested by the Enugu Zonal Office of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), following a compliant by the victim’s mother Mrs. Chinwendu Ozioko, and was later arraigned before the Federal High Court, Enugu, over alleged sexual exploitation, a charge that the rights group said was not commensurate with the offence committed.
The group said that the governor’s intervention in the matter prompted the Department of State Security (DSS) to re-arrest Nnaike after conducting a thorough investigation into the matter, and subsequently arraigned the suspect before an Enugu High Court.
The letter to Gov Mbah read in part: “We write to commend your intervention in respect of the above-mentioned matter, which if not for your intervention justice would have eluded the victim.
“National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Zonal office, Enugu, where the complaint was first made to, released on bail the suspect of this heinous crime the following day after his arrest, and further took steps to arraign the suspect at the Federal High Court Enugu for a lesser offence of sexual exploitation after its investigation.
“It would be recalled that the complaint in the case is in respect of a 14-year-old child who explained how she has not been going to school for some time and how the husband of her mistress Mr. Charles Nnaike, and one of his friends had since 2019, consistently raped her over the years. He started abusing the child while the child was in primary 6.
“Your Excellency believed in what we believed that where an offender commits a heinous crime against the state and humanity, he should be made to face the full wrath of the law. The offence committed by the offender in the instant case is rape and defilement.
“An offender in a case of rape is liable to life imprisonment and for anybody to think that the offender could be charged for a lesser offence as done earlier in this case is criminal, an assault on the Rule of Law and attack on the sensibilities of citizens of this country.
“It is on record that it is through your intervention that the Department of State Security (DSS), re-arrested Mr. Charles Nnaike; conducted a thorough investigation and arraigned the suspect in court which remanded him in prison custody, while awaiting the Ministry of Justice to formally arraign the suspect before the High Court for Rape and Defilement.
“We also commend the steadfastness and courage of the mother of the victim Mrs. Chinwendu Ozioko, who is full of appreciation for your intervention. The unemployed 2015, graduate of Economics, of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), … was determined and courageous to demand that maximum penalty must be meted out to the rapist who raped her child.”
