Stop Impregnating your own daughters, Edo Govt. Cries out
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Edo State |
Edo State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development , Mrs . Magdalene Ohenhen , has raised the alarm over rising cases of men having sex with their daughters .
She raised the alarm on Wednesday when she joined a protest to the NUJ Press Center in Benin , to demand justice for 17- year – old Gift Alonge , who was impregnated by her father .
The protest was organised by Brave Heart Initiative for Youth and Women (BHI ) , headed by Lady Grace Osakue .
The victim was allegedly impregnated in 2017 by her biological father , Jacob Alonge , forced her to procure crude abortion , before impregnating her again in 2018 .
“ It’ s a very sad situation. Edo State is becoming something else , and the earlier we stop it , the better for us . It is becoming a normal thing in Edo State for men to impregnate their own daughters .
She said there was another case of a man who slept with his own daughter for over 10 years before the case was reported .
“ Men of Edo State, it ’ s time we stopped all this . Edo State forbids it , it is a taboo . We are begging Edo men to stop sleeping with their daughters , it is an abomination, ” Osakue said .
Earlier , Osakue had disclosed that Gift Alonge, her uncle , Mr. Ukere Adagbogu, and two members of BHI , Rhoda Braimoh and Promise Ezekiel , lost their lives in an accident while on their way from Igarra to attend a court sitting in Benin.
She expressed worry that the court failed to pass its sentence the same day the accused pleaded guilty , which she said made it possible for him to change his plea when he discovered that the victim and witnesses in the case died in an accident.
“ At Ososo Police Division , Jacob Alonge made a confessional statement and the case was transferred to the Family Unit of the State CID in Benin. He was arraigned before court and he pleaded guilty to the charges .
“ On 16th of January, 2019 , when the court was to pass its sentence , a terrible accident occurred wherein the pregnant Miss Gift Alonge — the sexually- abused victim ; her uncle , Mr. Ukere Adagbogu , two members of BHI ’ s intervention team , Ms Rhoda Braimoh and Ms Promise Ezekiel, on their way from Igarra to the court sitting in Benin City, lost their lives .
“ The case was adjourned till 23rd January, 2019 . On that day, the accused person , sensing that key witnesses in the case were no longer alive to testify, changed his plea of ‘ guilty ’ to that of ‘ not guilty . ‘”
Osakue alleged that the accused, who is reputed to be a powerful native doctor, may have used magic wand to cause the accident that claimed the lives of the victims .
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In his remark , the Chairman of NUJ, Edo State Council , Sir Roland Osakue , called on the judiciary to be forthright in the dispensation of justice .
“ Somebody has pleaded guilty to a plea , why was the law not applied to him on that same day?” he queried