What Really Happened To Ese Oruru?

The extremely ugly nature of the political divide in Nigeria is rearing its disfigured head higher with attempts to extend the kidnapping of Ese Oruru to involve the Emir of Kano,  and by extension the North which is now being used as a tool to further validate the call for Biafra Republic in so many comments on social media. Rumours are rife! Unverified documents" are being circulated! I wonder who leaked them?

 

Biafra is a legitimate demand and does not need this story to stand on. Those attempting to add it to reasons why the North must be separated from the South are in desperation mode. Doing so makes every post and comment they make suspect.

 

AIT aired an interview circulating on social media in which damming claims were made by parents of the abducted girl. Those allegations need to be investigated and if true, justice must prevail. Should they be nothing more than a concoction made up in order to give a stronger political slant to this horrible situation, justice too must prevail.

 

At 13 or 17 years, Ese is not capable under the law to give consent and therefore, she was abducted if the other party, Yinusa is an 18 year old teenager or a much older man – whichever happens to be true. The label of a paedophile will depend on how old he truly is. Those who aided him in the process of keeping this girl against the wishes of her parents too are culpable and must be prosecuted.

 

Statutory Rape which is used in many nations to protect children from themselves and adults who prey on them is a very important classification of crime every nation needs to have in its books! At that point, the age of the victim is of prime importance and once it is established a minor is involved, it will not matter if that child was a willing partner in a relationship and "eloped" with another person. Depending on the age of the other party, sex between them is regarded as rape. That is why it is called STATUTORY RAPE. If they are both minors, then rape does not factor in but abduction can.

 

In that case, if the boy is older than 18 – the age when people are no longer considered minors, he can be prosecuted for kidnapping and rape. Being a teenager who by law is seen as an adult does not protect anyone from abuse of a minor even if that minor is a willing partner. Should Nigeria not have such a law in place, then it is not serious about protecting children who are easily manipulated by people older than 18 whom are considered to be adults by law.

 

If no police department in Nigeria will investigate and begin the process of prosecuting the boy should he be above the age when children are considered minors simply because the girl was "in love with him," then 'self respecting' does not apply to them and that will be another huge blight on Nigerian Police which has not covered itself in glory during this ugly situation.