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Senate will investigate whether there was miscarriage of justice, says Akpabio
From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has presented a petition to the Senate seeking to investigate the alleged sexual abuse that led to the death of 13-year-old Ochanya Ogbanje in Benue State.
The petition is urging the senators to also probe the failure of the Nigeria Police Force to arrest and prosecute Victor Ogbuja, accused alongside his father, Andrew Ogbuja, for allegedly committing the abuse that led to the death of the minor.
Her petition, submitted by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on behalf of human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong in plenary on Wednesday, also faulted the Benue State Government for not appealing the 2022 judgement that discharged and acquitted Andrew Ogbuja.
According to the petition addressed to the President of the Senate, Ochanya, a student of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Gboko, died in October 2018 after suffering health complications allegedly resulting from prolonged abuse while living with the Ogbuja family in Ugbokolo, Okpokwu Local Government Area.
A medical report from the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, was cited as part of the evidence used in the conviction of Mrs. Felicia Ogbuja by the Federal High Court in 2022 for failing in her duty of care to the child.
Effiong stated that despite widespread public concern, the police had not arrested Victor Ogbuja, who fled when the allegations became public. He recalled that although Andrew Ogbuja was briefly arrested in 2018, he was later released under controversial circumstances.
The Benue State High Court eventually acquitted him in April 2022 on grounds that the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence linking him to the crime. Effiong noted that appeals from the family urging the state government to challenge the acquittal were ignored.
It also stated that members of the Ogbuja family had allegedly intimidated the late girl’s mother and siblings since the matter began. He argued that the continued refusal to arrest the second suspect and the failure to appeal the acquittal of the first had denied the family justice and posed wider concerns for the protection of vulnerable children.
Additionally, Effiong, in the petition, said the Benue State Government had not fulfilled its promise to rebuild and equip the primary school in Ochanya’s village, which it pledged to rename after the deceased.
He urged the Senate to refer the petition to the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters for investigation and appropriate action. Certified copies of relevant court judgements were attached to the petition.
Responding, Senate President Godswill Akpabio described the details of the petition as horrifying before referring it to the Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions where “justice will be done to it.”
Addressing possible concerns over the Senate probing a case that has passed through the court, he explained, “because of the nature of the case, a case of miscarriage of justice, it will be good for the committee to look at it.” He said the Senate’s intervention may be advisory, as the case may be.
