Ocholi: How ankle injury saved surviving son

FG to immortalize Ocholi

ABUJA—THE only surviving son of the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Barrister Aaron Ocholi, has promised to retain all the legacies of his father. Aaron Ocholi who is 25 years, according to family sources, was saved from following his father to attend the Church service in Kaduna due to an ankle injury he sustained while training on a football pitch. 

He was on crutches at the time the father and some members of the family embarked on the fatal trip. CONDOLENCE—Daughter of late James Ocholi, Ale and son, Aaron Ocholi at the residence of the late Minister of State at Kado Estate, Abuja, yesterday. Top Right: Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige signing the condolence register for Late Ocholi.

Also yesterday, Deputy Governor of Yobe State, Abubakar Ali, was involved in an auto accident along the Kaduna-Kano expressway but escaped unhurt. Already, the Ocholi family house at 4 Daggash Street, Kado Estate, Abuja, was a beehive of activities, yesterday, as ministers, lawmakers and heads of agencies trooped to the residence to commiserate with the family. This resulted in a traffic gridlock on all the roads leading to the family house at Kado. 

Speaking to the body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, that visited the house, Aaron said he would not tamper with the legacy of his father and will never sell his books and law firm, assuring the SANs that with them, he would not derail. Speaking to Vanguard, a close friend of the late minister, who was always regarded as his ‘twin’ brother by relatives, Tokunbo Obayan, a.k.a. Toks, described Ocholi’s death as a rude shock. 

He said: “It was so sudden that it was certainly unreal in the fact that, yesterday morning, we did not feel that something like this was on the cards. I actually was flying from Kaduna to Lagos, I live in Lagos. I had no idea that it was even between Kaduna and Abuja, only for me to get to Lagos and my phone rang from everywhere in Nigeria, confirming the ugly incident. “So, you can imagine the shock and now for me to also find out that it wasn’t just him but his wife and Joshua, that was like the world had crumbled on us because our families were like twin families. 

“My wife got the first text and she replied that it was not possible. My wife is the Vice-Chancellor of Landmark University and former Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University. “Her first reaction was that it was not possible, then the person now called her back and said it was all over the social media, it was devastating to imagine. Two weeks ago, I was here in this house, two days, four days we talked and we planned and to suddenly hear that it was like someone just shut the door, everything we have been planning, everybody calls him my twin brother, even when I am in Lagos, people in Abuja phoned me to find out where he is. 

“When we sat down there and we were discussing, the plans for the future, the fact is that as minister, he had to pull off from anything that will give any look of impropriety which Ocholi was particular about. Even his businesses and things that he was committed to, we were discussing how to handle them to make sure that there was no conflict of interest. “That was our last conversation. We were sitting here when he was about to travel to Kogi for the run-off election. He had five children, two sons and three daughters. Ojoni is the first daughter, Aaron is the second son, he was called to bar the day his father was screened in the Senate. 

“He went for a church service in Kaduna; he has been involved in Christian activities for a very long time and that was actually how we met. There is a bond between the two of us because of our love for God. “Even his coming into politics was to bring a dimension of cleanliness and most people will not understand if I tell you that Ocholi entered into politics because he had a call. I was the first person that he told. I was sitting beside him when he told me and said Toks, I heard God saying I should go and serve him in politics but I like legal practice. “I said if God said you should go and serve him that is where you should go. This is so devastating.” 

Also speaking, a cousin to the late minister, Isaac Agbanwu, a surveyor said: “We were not expecting this. “We were together on Thursday, our discussion was about a trip he was going to make officially and I was to meet him and then discuss with him before he travelled and I went, we discussed and I left his office on Thursday. “I was expecting that by Saturday, he would have travelled; I was not expecting him around, let alone hearing of his death. I also travelled to the village, it was on my way to the village that I was informed about his death, I had no option than to turn back immediately. It is bad news to us.

“He has a son who is already a graduate, called to the bar. We are making him to understand that he should see it as a reality and not a drama. “He was a humble man, an accessible man, a man that has the comfort of people as his agenda before himself. He wouldn’t want to hurt anybody, he was always focused on heaven and did not want to be derailed.”

7 more still hospitalised — FRSC

Kaduna State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Francis Udoma, confirmed to Vanguard in Kaduna, yesterday, that 10 persons were in the two SUVs, a Prado and a Lexus, involved in the accident that claimed the lives of the minister, his wife and son, adding that seven others who sustained serious injuries were rushed to the hospital for treatment. His words: “A total of 10 persons were involved in that sad accident. 

You have already written about those that died – the minister,, his wife and son. There are seven other victims, but they have all been taken to the Abuja National Hospital, yesterday. ‘’They were in two cars – a Prado and a Lexus. All I can tell you is that at the time we took them there, they were given prompt medical attention. Since I am not the one treating them, I cannot tell you precisely how they are responding. But, I am told that they are responding well”, he said.

He’ll be immortalised — Ngige

Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, yesterday, said the Federal Government might immortalise the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi, SAN. Senator Ngige stated this after signing the condolence register opened in honour of the late minister in Abuja. He also disclosed that he had declared a one day mourning and a work-free day for the staff in the ministry yesterday, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari had been duly notified and that Ocholi might be immortalized by the Federal Government because he died in active service. 

His words: “Yes! The Federal Government will work out something. I have written officially to notify Mr. President about his transition and I believe the Federal Government will work out something because he died in active service. This is the second time the country is losing a minister of state, I think in 1982, the country lost a minister of state who went to São Tomé.” 

He said the Ministry will take care of the remaining members of Ocholi’s family and the staff of the ministry who sustained various degrees of injury in the accident. In a condolence message signed by the minister, he said: “My brother and comrade in the struggle for a better Nigeria, you left us suddenly and without a word. I’m still shocked. We are consoled that in the brief period we worked as compatriots, you have shown you are a true Nigerian and one who desires the maximum good for the common man. Adieu.”

Yobe deputy Gov in auto crash

Also yesterday, the Deputy Governor of Yobe State, Abubakar Ali, was involved in an auto accident along the Kaduna-Kano Expressway. An eyewitness, Sanusi Abdul, said the incident occurred at Daka-Tsalle town, along the expressway. “The SUV he was travelling in had a head-on collision with a Toyota Avensis. Fortunately, the deputy governor’s vehicle did not somersault, but the Toyota car was badly damaged and some of its occupants injured,” he said. 

Abdul, who said the accident occurred around 9:30 am, added that he also narrowly missed hitting the deputy governor’s car, adding that the deputy governor’s convoy later continued its trip to Kano. Efforts to speak with the deputy governor was unsuccessful as he neither answered nor returned calls. 

A source at Government House, Damaturu, however, said the deputy governor travelled to Kano on a condolence visit to Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, who lost his mother on Friday. Confirming the accident, the Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, in Kano State, Mr. Aminu Umar Jaba, said: “It was a minor accident blown out of proportion by an unnamed aide to the deputy governor. The commander, however, declined further details on the number of vehicles involved in the accident but blamed social media for exaggerating the accident. “As for the fact we have at our disposal, it was a minor accident. The deputy governor escaped unhurt and he is now at Ganduje village on a condolence visit.”

PDP Consoles Buhari, FG

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condoled President Muhammadu Buhari and the federal government of Nigeria over the death of the Minister of State for Labour, Mr James Ocholi. The party in a statement signed by the National Publicity, Olisa Metuh, said the death of Mr Ocholi came to “the PDP as a huge shock and prayed God to grant eternal repose to their souls”. Part of the statement read: “The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, on behalf of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party condoles with the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari on the tragic death of the Minister of State for Labour, Barr. James Ocholi SAN, his wife and son in a car crash on Sunday”. 

The party also commiserated with the minister’s family and prayed God to grant them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss, adding that “the family should take solace in the exemplary and patriotic life lived by the late minister as well as his immense contributions to the legal profession and the nation at large. It prayed God to grant his soul eternal rest.”

Saraki, Ekweremadu mourn Ocholi

Also Senate President,Bukola Saraki, and the Deputy Senate President,Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday expressed deep shock and disbelief over Sunday’s demise of Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, James Ocholi, his wife and eldest son in a road mishap along Abuja-Kaduna Road. The Senate President, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu in Abuja, described the tragic death of such a “promising Nigerian” as the late Minister as a colossal loss to the present administration in particular and the country at large. 

He condoled with President Muhammadu Buhari, members of the Federal Executive Council,FEC, the governor and people of Kogi State, leaders and people of North Central zone and the immediate family of the deceased over the unfortunate incident. Saraki said: “I still recall when the late Ocholi appeared before the Senate to be screened and confirmed as Minister a few months ago. He was not only full of life, he came across to me as a man of great ideas and accomplishments. “He was very articulate and brilliant in his presentation and gave good account of himself as Senior Advocate of repute, who given the chance to discharge the duty assigned to him, would have contributed immensely in turning around the story of unemployment in this country. 

“His death and that of his wife and eldest son, is a colossal loss to me, his immediate family, the people and government of Kogi State, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress,APC and the entire country.” He prayed God to grant the souls of the deceased eternal rest, and urged Nigerians, especially his immediate family, to be comforted by the fact that Ocholi breathed his last while on acting service for his father land.
Source:Vanguard

How we abducted the 3 girls at Babington school-Suspect

ONE of the suspected members of the gang that abducted three students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Ikorodu, Lagos has told the police how they kidnapped their victims.
Emmanuel Arigidi, a native of Old Ese village, Ondo State, was among the three suspects arrested by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for abducting Timilehin Olosa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo.

Arigidi, who was jointly paraded by Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni at the Governor’s Office, Alausa, said: “I am a member of a 12-man gang that abducted the schoolgirls. We were doing oil bunkering before security operatives took over our enclave. We now resorted to armed robbery.

I was recruited by Clement Abanara Million, who has been in police detention. Since there was no other way to survive, Felix brought the job of kidnapping the girls to me. One Lamienmu gave Felix the job and Felix gave me the job. I accepted to do the job because of poverty. Felix is the ‘Caka Tradition,” who was doing the negotiation with the school authority.

“Well, when I accepted to do the job, as the leader of the gang, I instructed that some of us should sleep near the school. We slept behind the school for three days. On the D-day, we stormed the school in eight wooden boats. We were 12 in number. The water is shallow, so the boats can only accommodate two persons each. We would have come with only six boats but we needed two more because of those we wanted to abduct.

“We were armed with Seven AK47 rifles. When we reached the school, we scaled through the fence and walked straight to the hostel because there was no security in the school. We selected three girls and we took them away. We carried each in a boat and we kept them in Adamma forest, from where we started negotiations. The forest is across Ikorodu.

“When we arrived the forest, there was confusion in our midst. I got angry and I told my boys that we should return the children but they started begging that we should go ahead. I swear to God, I hated myself for accepting the job. When I looked at the faces of the innocent girls, I felt like committing suicide. They are so innocent. I now calmed the girls down and told them that they would not be hurt. They cooperated. Well, you can ask them. We did not hurt them. They were not molested, beaten or raped as people were speculating. I swear to God, none of us threatened the girls.

“Well, I was responsible for buying food for the girls, because I did not want anything to happen to them. It was when I went to procure food for the girls that I was arrested by the police. I was embittered and my life crashed, because I knew I was in for trouble the moment I started seeing pressure from security agents and the members of the public. I was arrested since Friday last week. As I was in police net, I had no alternative than to open up. I now told the police everything about our gang and I gave them the names of my gang members.

The father of one of us was arrested by the police. The man begged me to describe our enclave for him. I now explain how he would get there. He actually went as I told him and his son, Caka, promised to release the kids. He did as he promised. We did not collect any ransom.
“I regret kidnapping the children. I think others will have learnt a lesson from my mistake. My gang members are still in the forest. We have a guy there from Edo State that has been living in the forest for many years. He understands every nook and cranny of the forest.”

A police source, however, told Daily Sun that the police would have arrested the suspects and rescued the girls but “the water route is so narrow and shallow. The canoe can only convey two persons, that is the owner and a passenger. The hoodlums may sight us coming and ambush us.

We now picked one of the suspects’ father who went to the creek to plead with the son to release the children. The guy did as he promised his father. It was the Inspector General of Police who deployed the IRT to Lagos led by Mr. Abba Kyari. We got the suspects on Friday. One of the three suspects was responsible for buying phones and recharge cards for the gang. The other one was doing SIM registration for the hoodlums.”

Earlier, CP Owoseni said: “No ransom was paid. The children were rescued in good health. We have sent them for medical examination, and they have been certified healthy before we reunited them with their families. What we employed in the rescue mission was more of application of intelligence policing, using the platform of technology, partnering with the members of the public and pressurising the kidnappers. With the too much pressure, they found out that there was no way to keep the girls and they were forced to release them.”

Also speaking, Governor Ambode said the state had all it takes to deal with criminals. The governor reassured residents of the state of the safety of their lives and property. He affirmed that the state government had the wherewithal and capacity to pursue any criminal element that disturbed the peace of the residents. He urged the residents to be law-abiding and keep going about their legitimate businesses in a peaceful manner. He warned criminal elements in the state to desist from crime or face the wrath of the law.

“The Lagos State government is extremely pleased to announce that the three students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu, who were abducted by gunmen on Monday, 29 February, were rescued by security operatives in the early hours of Sunday, March 6,” he said.
Source:The Sun

Rev King: Timeline to an affirmed death sentence

THE name of Reverend King still sends a chill down the spine of his followers. He came, disgruntled, to Lagos with the name Chukwue­meka Ezeuko but altered ‘Ezeuko’ to read ‘Ezeugo’ ostensibly to give his personality and identity the aura of dread that has become part of his life. Notwithstanding his change of name, the nomenclature Reverend King stuck to him more and supplanted his real name.

His mission was to start his own Christian ministry, after he fell out with authority at All Christian Practical Praying Band, Ufuma, where he was said to see visions for people. So he birthed the Chris­tian Praying Assembly, CPA, locat­ed in Ajao Estate, Lagos. Since it came on board, Reverend King’s CPA has grown not only in name and fame but also in scandals.

Reverend King, perhaps under­stands better why he chose the path of infamy as findings show that he was raised in a disciplined and God fearing setting, according one of his uncles, Mr. Aaron Ezeuko.
Shortly after the Court of Appeal delivered its judgment in 2013, his uncle told the media back then that Reverend King resorted to living a weird lifestyle after leaving Anam­bra for Lagos some years ago.

“You know when you send your child to school, a good child, you may not know what he will turn out to be and I think that is the case with Emeka. But you can see that our family is a disciplined one, you can still go around and ask. I want to tell you that we do not know what he is doing there,” said Aaron.

Reverend King plays God and his followers play along with him. This possibly explains why many of his weird doctrines and practices went unquestioned until his cup got to the brim 10 years ago. A cruel fate stares the founder and General Overseer of CPA in face after he failed to convince the Supreme Court of Nigeria on why the death sentence slammed on him by a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Joseph Oyewole on January 11, 2007, should be upturned. The judge convicted and sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment for attempted murder and death by hanging for the murder of one Ann Uzoh.

The late Ann and six other mem­bers of his church were accused of fornication and in punishing them for their alleged offence King reportedly set them ablaze on June 24, 2006 after they had been sprayed with fuel. Although the other victims survived, Ann died 11 days after the incident as a result of injuries sustained in the fire.

During the trial, witnesses, who were mostly his church members, gave heart-rending accounts of how Reverend King turned them to sex toys. The principal witness in the matter, Kelechi King, in her gory account narrated to the court how she had aborted four pregnancies for the convict. She also revealed how Reverend King made her denounce her family and how she served him as his maid, attending to him naked.

While giving their different accounts on the incident that led to the death of Ann, almost all the prosecution witnesses corroborated the fact that Ezeugo actually set them on fire by pouring fuel on them. They also told the court that on the fateful, Rev. King gathered them together in his house over allegation that they were commit­ting fornication in his house, an allegation they all denied.

Prior to his murderous outing in 2006, signs of King’s imminent fall to ignominy had multiplied. Rumours of alleged escapades of the CPA founder were rife but many of those at the receiving end of the pastor’s misdeeds obviously lacked the courage to spill the beans except a few. One of the courageous few was a business­man, one Edwin Akabue whose wife, Ebele had sought dissolution of their 13-year marriage after she reportedly absconded from her matrimonial home in 2005. Mr. Akabue who was the respondent in the matter in an affidavit alleged that Reverend King was having an amorous affair with his wife. He also accused the pastor of orches­trating his wife’s desertion of their matrimony home.

“That trouble started in my marriage when the said Rev. King started having an adulterous affair with my wife and I protested against such act from a self-styled man of God,” the respondent pleaded. He said prior to the ap­pointment of his wife as a woman leader in the church, he was made a leader of the Grace Ministries in the same church and also in ‘Group B,’ which necessitated his spending hundreds of thousands of Naira for the church.

“When it became apparent that my wife was having sexual rela­tions with the Rev. King, I stopped going to the church and asked my wife to also quit the church. That was when my wife absconded from our matrimonial home on November 17, 2005, in protest to my demand that she should quit the church. That my wife, the peti­tioner, was instructed by Rev. King to abscond from our matrimonial home and the said Rev. King had earlier instructed her to stop wear­ing her wedding ring.

“Immediately my wife abscond­ed, the Rev. King and my wife’s brother conspired and sent a bus to my house to pack my belongings and my five children away to an unknown destination,” Akabue had stated at the material time in an affidavit in a matter before an Igbosere Chief Magistrate Court, Lagos.
While the case lingered, Rever­end King was caught neck deep in major criminal case which necessi­tated his incarceration in the last 10 years and culminated in his being sentenced to death by the Lagos High Court in January 2007.

Reverend King was held cul­pable for the death Ann Uzor on August 11, 2006. During the trial, another prosecution witness, Olisa Chiejina, told the court how the accused operated a “Lord Army”, an outfit he said Rev. King used to intimidate and harass members of his church.
Relying on the overwhelming evidence against him, Justice Oyewole (then of the Lagos High Court) in his judgment said sufficient evidence had linked the accused person to the commission of the crime and consequently convicted him.

Ezeugo later appealled the judg­ment. But while his appeal lasted, the G.O of Christian Praying Assembly who was remanded in Kirikiri was embroiled in another controversy when he was accused of having sexual intercourse with female guests even in prison. The allegation subsequently led to his transfer to Kuje Prisons in Abuja before he was moved to Kaduna Prisons over allegation of instigating insurrection in the prison. Prison authorities would later transfer him from Kaduna to Katsina Prisons for allegedly caus­ing undue tension at the Kaduna Prison.

Reverend King failed to get the verdict of the Lagos High Court upturned when the Court of Appeal in Lagos ruled in 2013. Affirming the judgment of the Lagos High Court in a unanimous judgment, the appellate court held that the evidence of the prosecution, during the trial was overwhelming and damning and proved beyond reasonable doubt that he commit­ted the crimes for which he was arraigned.

Not satisfied, Ezeugo ap­proached the Supreme Court to get the verdict quashed but there was no reprieve for the acclaimed man of God as the apex court sealed his fate, affirming the death sentence. In a unanimous judgment on Friday, February 26, 2016, a seven-man panel of justices of the apex court led by Justice Walter Onnoghen, upheld the death sentence earlier slammed on him by the Lagos State High Court and dismissed his appeal.

Reverend King’s incarceration in the last 10 years seems not to have diminished his revered image amongst his followers as several members were said to have continued marking his birthday even in absentia. In 2014, a report claimed that CPA members placed advertorials in national dailies to eulogize him, hailing him as the light of the world.

Since penultimate Friday’s affirmation of the Lagos High Court verdict by the apex court, the propriety of executing the court judgment or otherwise has been the major topic for discussion among Nigerians. While many have called on the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode to sign the death warrant of the condemned pastor, others have called on the state governor to temper justice with mercy.

Speaking in an interview with Sunday Sun reporter, a lawyer and former chairman of Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, On­yekachi Ubani noted that world’s opinion is against death sentence. According to him, keeping the convict in the custody perpetually is deterrent enough. “The man to be executed may turn a new leaf tomorrow. If I were in the gover­nor’s shoes I won’t carry out the execution,” Ubani said.

Chief Mike Ahamba, SAN, however expressed a different opinion on the matter. According him, continued incarceration of the convict means that the state would have to continue feeding him with taxpayer’s money. “I believe in death penalty. In appropriate circumstances death penalty should be given. The man should be executed. A man who had the guts to pour kerosene on ladies has no business living in the society,” he said.
Source:The Sun

I helped Yunusa, but he betrayed me, says Ese's mother

The mother of 14-year-old Ese Oruru, Mrs. Rose Oruru, has said Yunusa Dahiru, aka Yellow, betrayed her and her family by abducting her teenage daughter from Bayelsa.
Ese was abducted by Yunusa, in August 2015.

The teenagee was forced to convert to Islam and forced into marriage with Yunusa.
Ese was reunited with her family this week following a massive campaign by PUNCH newspaper, which generated national outrage and forced the authorities to ensure she was taken from Kano and reunited with her family.
Rose dismissed the claim by Yunusa's father that the abductor had stayed with the Orurus for 10 years as a house help.

The teenager's mother said they only got to know Yunusa at about 2012.
Our correspondent gathered that this was the period Yinusa came to the Opolo area, where the residence of the Orurus was located.
It was gathered that Yunusa usually helped people carry their loads from the market.
That was how the Orurus got to know him.

Rose also said sometime in 2012, the family decided to help him with somewhere to sleep at night.
Before then, our correspondent gathered that Yunusa usually slept in different places in the area, including churches.
She said, "Yunusa was one of the Hausa people in the area, and he used to come to my shop to buy food, and sometimes when he did not have money, we would sell to him on credit or give him food for free.

"When we discovered that he needed a place to lay his head at night, I decided to help him by allowing him to pass the night in the shop, but not to live there.
"We did not know he would turn against us and kidnap our daughter. Yunusa betrayed me and my family, despite how we helped him."

Rose described him as someone who was known to people around the area because he was friendly .
She said he sold firewood for some time until someone in the area gave him a tricycle to ride.
"I remember that he behaved like a good person; people in our area knew him very well. Nobody would have thought he could do such a thing," she added.
According to Rose, Yunusa was asked to stop coming to sleep in her shop in 2013 after some items got missing in the shop.

Rose said items such as rice and bottles of soft drinks disapperared.
She said, "That was when I became suspicious. Since I could not prove it, I just asked him to stop coming to the shop to pass the night. This was in late 2012 or early 2013.
"I had to start locking the fridge and my cupboard. Why would I do that if I had trusted him?"
She said people who said Ese willingly travelled to Kano with him did not know Yunusas history.
She recalled that a few weeks after she asked Yunusa to stop coming to sleep in her shop, her shop was burgled.

She said she lost valuables, including food items and a big television set that came with a DVD player.
"That television set was even bigger than the one currently in my shop. We do not want to lay blame on anyone because we could not say that this was the person that did it," she added.
She said a year later, Yunusa started coming to the shop to buy food.
She said, "He came one day to beg me to forgive him. I then told him that I did not hold anything against him that I had forgiven him.

"But how could I have known that he was planning to do something bad to my daughter?
"I know my daughter, Ese, she would never have done such a thing with someone like Yunusa. She did not go to Kano with him on her own accord."

Medical report not for the public
The police have said the report of the medical examination carried out on Ese Oruru will not be made public.
The Force stated that the medical report was confidential and not for public consumption.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, who said this in response to an inquiry from our correspondent on Thursday, explained that the report was not ready yet.
According to her, the police will respect Ese's privacy and will not disclose the result of the medical examination.

She added that the report would be given to investigators to assist them in their work.
"When Ese's medical is ready, it will be handed over to the investigators and it will not be made public by the police as we respect the privacy of the girl-child (Ese)," Kolawole said.
The police had earlier said it had carried out various medical tests on the teenager, whose rescue from forced marriage and conversion to Islam, was championed by PUNCH newspapers.

It was learnt that the police had carried out different tests on Ese, including pregnancy and HIV/AIDS tests.
On Ese's abductor, Yunusa Dahiru, the police spokesperson said he had been transfered to Bayelsa State, where he would be tried for his crime.
"Yunusa is already in Bayelsa," Kolawole said.

Claim of innocence irrelevant
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, has dismissed the claim by the father of Yunusa Dahiru, who abducted Ese, that his son had not committed any crime.
Arase stated this on Thursday during a one-day awareness workshop on sexual and gender based violence in Nigeria, organised by the Nigeria Police Force, in collaboration with Cleen Foundation and Ford Foundation in Benin, the Edo State capital.

Ese was taken to Kano from Bayelsa in August 2015 by Yunusa, where he converted her to Islam and forcefully married her without the consent of her parents.
She was, however, released on February 29.
The father of the suspect, Alhaji Dairu Bala, had reportedly said at his Tofa home in the Kuru Local Government Area of Kano State that his son followed "his heart" when the teenage girl "fell in love" with him and "followed him."

But Arase, who spoke through the Gender Officer, Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Mrs. Mairo Adebalogun, noted that Bala's claim of innocence was irrelevant, adding that Yunusa would be prosecuted.
Arase said, "The father is not the person in the picture of this issue; it is his son. The police are going to investigate and if they find him wanting, they will prosecute him."

PSC to dismiss indicted police officers
The Police Service Commission has said it will dismiss from service, any police officer found culpable in the abduction of Ese Oruru.
The commission said it was waiting for the report of the ongoing investigation of some police officers involved in the case, as directed by the Inspector-General of Police.

A statement by the PSC spokesman, Ikechukwu Ani, on Thursday in Abuja said the commission "will ensure that any police officer who is found to have compromised himself either by omission or commission in the saga will be flushed out."
It commended the IG "for his swift action in rescuing the teenager and ensuring that she was immediately reunited with her family," adding that it would work with Arase to see that Nigerians, including the likes of Ese were guaranteed their freedom to life.

My daughter was raped
The father of Ese Oruru says their underage daughter was raped by Yunusa.
Charles Orurus, in an interview on the rumoured pregnancy of the minor, said his daughter had been forced to convert to Islam and into a child marriage without their consent.
Charles said, "My daughter was raped by that man. I saw the sign when I saw her last night. We are glad that stage one is over. I am happy she has been finally released and I have seen her, but I am sad. Now we will have to face whatever comes next."

He, however, said the family would hold a meeting in the next few days to take a collective decision on the matter.
H also told our correspondent that he would meet with the police, lawyers, and other concerned persons on the issue.
Ese's mum, Rose, however, said she could not say for certain that Ese was pregnant, adding that medical tests would confirm her suspicion.

The teenager's mother also said Ese did not know she was in Kano State until after some time.
"It was like she had been hypnotised," she said.
When asked what she would do if her daughter was indeed pregnant.
"Until then," she said.

Dickson orders trial of abductors
The Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has called for a comprehensive investigation into Ese's abduction and subsequent prosecution of the culprits.
A statement by the state government on Thursday said the governor spoke in Yenagoa, shortly after receiving Ese and her parents in the Government House.

While describing the incident as unfortunate, Dickson directed the Ministry of Justice to collaborate effectively with the police towards ensuring that Ese's abduction was prosecuted to a logical conclusion.
Dickson, who described Ese as a minor, wondered why it took so long to secure her release, adding that, there were questions begging for answers.

The governor was quoted as saying, "This matter has to do with enforcement of the laws of this state. This matter is not religious; It is not a matter that has to be swept under the carpet.
"I have directed the Ministry of Justice to collaborate with the police to ensure that this matter is prosecuted to a logical conclusion."

The governor directed that a team of medical personnel and counsellors be set up to liaise with Ese and her parents to offer support to reintegrate Ese to the society.
Source:Punch