Agents of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) have tracked and arrested Mrs. Ogbuja, wife of Mr. Andrew Ogbuja, who allegedly, along with his son, Victor Ogbuja, serially sexually violated Elizabeth Ochanya Ogbanje, leading to her death.
According to Press and Public Relations officer, NAPTIP, Mr. Adekoye Vincent, the woman’s arrest came four weeks after the agency declared a manhunt for her.
He said: “As part of the plan to ensure full justice for the late Elizabeth Ochaya Ogbaje, who died last month as a result of the alleged sexual assault, operatives of NAPTIP have arrested the aunt of the late Ochaya, 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, who is said to be a worker with the Catering Department, Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, came about four weeks after intensive manhunt having disappeared from her house shortly after Ochanya’s death.
Ochanya, 13, a student of the Federal Government Girls College, Gboko, died on October 21, after a battle with Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF) and other health complications at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi. Vincent alleged that Ochanya’s death was occasioned by the alleged sexual abuse by Andrew, who is the Head of Department, Catering and Hotel Management at the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, Benue State, and his son, Victor, 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 NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, immediately directed the Markudi Zonal Command of the agency to arrest Mrs. Ogbuja and other accomplices for prosecution.
The Markudi Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Mr. Ganiu Agaran, said that it took the combined efforts of operatives of the agency in Markudi, Lagos and even Abuja before Mrs. Ogbuja was arrested.
Report indicated that the suspect, who got hint of the plan to arrest her, absconded to Lagos and later to Abuja before she finally returned to Markudi where she was arrested on Friday afternoon.
Okah-Donli said the suspect would be thoroughly investigated to ascertain her level of connivance in the incident and thereafter charged to court. She added: “I am still pained by the tragic death of the late Elizabeth Ochanya 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 being sexually molested and assaulted by people who ought to have protected them.”
