Less than a
week after a 100-level student of the University of Benin, Uwaila Omozuwa, was
raped and killed inside a church in Benin City, an 18-year-old student of the
Federal College of Animal and Production Technology, Moore Plantation, Apata,
Ibadan, Oyo State, has suffered the same fate.
The teenager,
Barakat Bello, who was undertaking the National Diploma programme in Science
Laboratory Technology, was reportedly attacked on Monday.
Also on
Monday, three armed men allegedly gang-raped a 17-year-old street hawker at the
Oja-Oba Market, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
It was
gathered that the attack on Barakat took place at her home in the Akinyele area
of Ibadan.
Initial
reports had it that her corpse was found near the house.
The father of
the deceased, Kasimu Elepo, told Sahara Reporters that he was not at home when
the incident occurred.
He stated that
the deceased’s sister was also out of the house when the tragic incident
occurred.
According to
him, the sister found Barakat’s body in a pool of her own blood at the back of
the house when she returned from Quaranic lessons.
Elepo said, “I was not at home when the incident
happened. The victim’s younger sister was not at home too; she went for
Quaranic lessons, but when she returned home, she saw Barakat at the back of
the house with deep cuts all over her body. She had been raped and killed.
“Somebody called me on the phone that I should come home, but he refused
to tell me what happened. When I got home, I saw that my daughter had been
raped and hacked to death.”
The
Coordinator, National Association of Nigerian Students, Zone ‘D’, Samuel
Olawale, demanded justice for the victim and said the rape of women must stop.
The deceased,
who was a member of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, was buried on
Tuesday according to Islamic rites.
The murder of
the teenager has sparked protest on Twitter with the hashtag, #JusticeforBarakat.
A United
Kingdom-based medical doctor, Harvey Olufunmilayo, said the rape epidemic must
be brought to an end.
He tweeted, “Barakat Bello was alone at home when some
men attacked her. She was raped and killed. This was in Ibadan yesterday. She
was only 18. Barakat was at home. She is a Muslim hijabi sister. You mad people
that come up with excuses for rape, what is the excuse this time?”
Another tweet
by @mideglow read, “This is becoming too
much!!! We are tired of burying our sisters and friends. We are tired of
molestation and rape! Capital punishment should be meted to the perpetrators.”
@Utchay
tweeted, “This is pure madness. I have
lived and worked up North and when I see people saying that women get raped
because of the way they dressed, I start to laugh.”
The Police
Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Police Command, Olugbenga Fadeyi, told
PUNCH Metro that although the incident was trending on the social media, he
could not confirm it at the moment as it had not been reported to the police.
He expressed
dissatisfaction with the failure of the deceased’s family to report the case
for investigation by the police.
Fadeyi stated,
“The story is trending; I have heard
about it. I have got the link to the online report and I have read the story,
but it is not in our crime diary.
“Efforts are being intensified to confirm the credibility of the report.
At present, the Divisional Police Officers, Oluyole and Apata divisions, have
been contacted, but we found out that the address that was quoted is not
correct. When I called the DPOs and I inquired, the two of them said there was
no such report in their records.
“It is very funny how some people are too much in a haste to post such
things, even if it happened truly. I am not saying it happened because our
records have not shown that. But, let’s assume it happened, the family is
supposed to make an official report; that is another problem.”
For the
Ado-Ekiti incident, PUNCH Metro gathered that the victim was hawking sachet
water when the men, who were said to be armed with broken bottles, accosted her
and took her to a corner in the market, where they forcefully had carnal
knowledge of her around 7pm.
The victim was
reportedly rushed to hospital for treatment after the incident.
When
contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, said two
suspects had been arrested, adding that efforts were on to apprehend the third
member of the gang.
“The girl was hawking sachet water when the incident happened around 7pm
on Monday. The suspects are friends; we have arrested two of them, while the
third is still at large. Investigation is ongoing,” Abutu stated. – PUNCH
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