By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa

The ambition of Ese Rita Oruru, the 14-year-old, who was allegedly abducted from Bayelsa State and taken to Kano State where she was said to have been converted to Islam and married out without the consent of her parents, was to become a nurse.

Ese-Oruru

However, fate appeared to have dealt a blow on the ambition,  following the  ill-fated trip to Kano with Yunusa Dahiru, aka Yellow, a commercial tricycle operator, her alleged abductor.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the trip denied the minor the opportunity of joining her school mates to write the Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination, a first step to actualising her ambition of becoming a nurse.

Said  Adama Miebimo, her classmate,  “I happened to share the same seat with Ese in class and we became friends. She is very intelligent; her favourite subjects are mathematics, English and Integrated Science. She wanted to concentrate on science subjects with the hope of becoming a nurse in future.”

Journey to captivity

Ese, a student of Epie Community Secondary School, Opolo in Yenagoa Local Government Area and daughter of Mr. Charles Oruru, a wood merchant, though now jobless, and Mrs. Rose Oruru, a food vendor, was relatively unknown until the sad turn of events in her life.

Whereas the JSS III student’s  ambition, according to her classmate, was to be become a nurse, last August, she reportedly left home to see a classmate at Tombia, who had an accident, but  never returned.

The next six months turned out to be a nightmare for her parents and siblings as well as school mates. While the parents launched a  search for their missing daughter, her class mates resorted to prayers for her safety and quick return.

It  however remains a mystery to unravel whether Ese’s excuse  to go see a class mate at Tombia  on that fateful  August 12, 2015 was a ploy to run away with Yunusa or whether she acted under the influence of strange powers as being speculated in some quarters.

Mr. Oruru, the father of the girl ,while recalling the sudden disappearance of his daughter, which he described as a trying moment for his family, said: “On 12 August, 2015, as the one working to fend for the  family, I had left to work. When I came back, I was told that Ese claimed  she was going to see her classmate who had an accident at Tombia.

“When she did not return home, we began to search for her; it was in the course of the search that  one Mohammed (aka Daidi), informed us that one Mr. Yunusa (alias Yellow) had taken her  to Kano with the intention to convert her into Islam and marry her.

“I want to make it clear, that no one consulted me or paid me bride price on my daughter; besides, she is too young and is  in school. I don’t have any prior knowledge or consented to what has happened.”

The father  was convinced that his daughter must have been charmed by her alleged abductor.

“My wife is a food vendor and her customers are mostly Hausa men, who she sometimes gives free meal. The said Mr. Yunusa (alias Yellow) does not have a steady source of income; sometimes, my wife gives him free meal. As much as I know, he was not having any affair with my daughter and he could  have used charms to lure and abduct my daughter to Kano.

Struggle to recover Ese

Recalling their moment of pain, Mr. Oruru said after his wife first trip to Kano failed to get their daughter back home, he also travelled with the hope of recovering Ese  and spent two nights there but met a brick wall.

Oruru noted with sadness that he met his daughter at the Sharia’s council parley in Kano, wearing black veil on the two occasions and his abductors even argued that she was 18 years which he dismissed, saying his daughter was born in 2002.

This, he noted, was after the failed attempt by his wife to get their daughter back home in the course of her trip to Kano that took her to the palace of the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the police.

Enter well-meaning Nigerians NGOs, civil society groups

However, reprieve came the way of the family when the issue came to the front burner, following the intervention of non-governmental organisations, the media and government of Bayelsa State.

Mr. Oruru admitted that it would have been a fruitless search but for the intervention.

He is convinced Eze  was under spell and is prepared to seek spiritual assistance from popular Lagos cleric and founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nation,  Pastor  TB Joshua.

The father, who said the traumatic experience and release of his daughter was the Lord’s doing, added that it would take prayers before she could  return to normal.

“We have decided to visit the T. B Joshua for prayers and thanksgiving. When I heard that she is declining to come home, I see this as a spiritual problem that can only be countered by prayer,” he said.

My daughter is pregnant

Though he admitted that test carried out on his daughter in Kano and Abuja confirmed she was five months pregnant, Mr Oruru said, “I am very happy the storm is over. I thank God for her safe return and all Nigerians who made it possible for her to return. I thank Bayelsa State  Commissioner of Police, the NGOs, the media and other civil society groups.

“It has been a traumatic experience for us. I was like a fish out of water. I was not sleeping well. It was a real war for our family.”

“Whatever you read in the newspapers about her health status is true,” he said in reference to Ese’s  reported pregnancy.

Dickson orders prosecution of abductors

Meanwhile, Governor Seriake Dickson  of Bayelsa State  called for  investigation into the Ese alleged abduction and  prosecution of those who aided the alleged mastermind. Dickson said the state government had  directed its  Ministry of Justice to collaborate  with the police to ensure that the issue was prosecuted to a logical conclusion.

He also expressed optimism that the investigation would be extended far and wide with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book.

Puzzles

Dickson, who described Ese as a minor, wondered why it took so long to secure her release, adding that there were questions begging for answers, “as those who knew something about her abduction failed to say or do something to ensure Ese’s return to her parents.”

CLO writes NASS, NHRC, seeks rehabilitation of victim, prosecution of culprits

In a related development, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has sent a protest letter to the National Assembly and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the alleged shoddy handling of the Ese issue.

According to the CLO, though the police, through the prompting of the media and civil society groups, have secured the release of the abducted Miss Oruru, the NHRC and the National Assembly should prevail on the police to ensure the rehabilitation of the victim and the arrest and prosecution of those involved in the abduction.

The organisation, in the letter signed by its Bayelsa State Chairman, Chief Nengi James, Legal Secretary,  O.J.J Makbere, and the mother of victim, Mrs. Rose Oruru, stated that the victim and her family were entitled to exemplary damages, proper clinical evaluation and prosecution of those behind the weeks of traumatisation experienced during Eze’s  abduction.

Ese sheltered at Police Officers Mess

At press time, the  rescued 14-year-old was being sheltered at the Police Officers Mess in Yenagoa undergoing counselling.

The state Commissioner of Police, Peter Ogunyawo, said: “We are trying to see how we can counsel her. As you can see, my wife had just visited her and that is what we intend doing in the next few days. She is traumatized.”