Jamila TudunWada, the mother of a 12-year-old girl, name withheld, who was gang-raped by seven men in Sokoto State has demanded justice.
The mother, in an audio clip obtained by DAILY NIGERIAN, lamented that the culprits who all live within the victim’s neighborhood were walking freely without facing the full wrath of the law.
She also alleged that the case which was brought before the Assistant Inspector General of Police in the state, Muhammad Mustapha, suffered neglect for months.
In the audio sent to her lawyer, Mansur Aliyu, the mother expressed her grief, alleging that the AIG had been bribed to sweep the case under the carpet.
She said: “I don’t even know any other place I can take the case to. There is no worse form of injustice than allowing the suspects to go scot-free.
“They are already raising shoulders within our neighborhood, priding themselves of using their influence to subdue the case.”
The mother added that the victim, “was supposed to be writing her exams, but she has been withdrawn from school.”
“Young boys in the neighborhood keep threatening that they could do the same since others had done and gone scot-free.
“This kind of oppression in Nigeria is getting out of hand. Now I understand why people hide such incidences from relevant authorities.
“Oftentimes, the victim’s plight only get exposed to the public, but no action is being taken in their favour,” Mrs Tudun-Wada lamented.
Speaking with DAILY NIGERIAN on phone, the mother said when the matter was reported to police station, the suspects had confessed to having carnal knowledge of her daughter.
Mrs Tudun-Wada added that the suspects used to call her daughter into an uncompleted building and molest her.
She said: “We reported the incidence to Dadinkowa Police station and were later transferred to a Kwannawa area court for the case.
“All the suspects got detained in the state correctional center only for us to find them roaming the streets again scot-free.”
Mrs Tudun-Wada, however, assured that she would uphold the case until justice is served.
She added that she had spoken with a representative of Amnesty International and was asked to forward the case to an association of lawyers dealing with human rights in the state.
As at the time of filing this report, the spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, Mohammed Abubakar-Sadiq, could not be reached on the phone.
