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Written by Clement Idoko 
Sunday, February 13, 2011

Clement Idoko writes about a seven year-old girl who is multi-talented but had to stop school due to lack of fund in primary 3, and how her jingles on President Goodluck Jonalthan were hijacked by Goodluck Jonalthan 2011 Support GroupTHIS seven-year-old whizkid, Mimiemiracle Emmanuel is an incredible multi-talented young girl; very hyper-active and outspoken. She is a gifted child with uncommon talents and abilities well beyond her years. One's interaction with her will reveal this or when one sees her on stage.

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Calm and gentle, as she heralded her mum into the newsroom of Tribune's Abuja office, nothing about her suggested precociousness. But the word would be a disservice to what nature has deposited in this seven-year old. Mimiemiracle is simply a genius, though a primary three drop-out, who is left with a single mum after her father, a military officer reportedly eloped with another woman in Jos, where mother and child were living. The unending crises in the city had however turned them into refugees living in an uncompleted building in Abuja.

Unfortunately, Mimiemiracle is one among the millions of disadvantaged children in the Nigerian society today. Driven away from Jos by the crisis that had enveloped the city in recent times, the young girl has been turned to a beggar on the streets of Abuja with her mother, Princess Momoh.

Last week, she was in Abuja office of the Nigerian Tribune newspapers, in company with her mother. The girl dazzled the Tribune staff, when she clutched the newspaper on a table and screamed the headline "Jos Boils Again!" and read the news story effortlessly. After reading through, she mused, saying "All these killings, yet government can't do anything to stop it".

The young girl, brought up by her single mother, stopped school in Primary 3 because her mother could not raise money to support her education further. She told Sunday Tribune: "I was a pupil of Local Education Authority School. I am not in school because my mum has no money to pay my school fees. My mum was making efforts to get some money to put me in school so that I won't be left out. There was a day that I asked my mum, 'won't I go to school again? Look at other children going to school'. But she still encouraged me and said 'don't worry, you will soon be in school'. I was in primary 3 when I stopped school".

Interestingly, aside being a gifted child and a genius, little Mimiemiracle is an incredible back-up singer, a budding poet, actress, and a voice-over expert. When asked of her innate abilities, she said: "I can sing, I can do movies, I can do jingles, I can produce films and a lot more".

In schools, such gifted children like Mimiemiracle have been tagged as 'possessed', derided as oddballs, and ridiculed as nerds. The parents of such young people are often criticized for pushing their children rather than allowing them a normal, well-balanced childhood. These children are so different from others that schools usually do not know how to educate them. But understanding them would help teachers to effectively handle them in classes.

In Mimiemiracle's case, she seems to take after her mother, who herself is an artiste and a script writer. The vicissitudes of life, no doubt, has been overwhelming. She was married to an Army Officer but unfortunately, a supposedly married woman came in between them and snatched her husband from her. She was then left as a single mother to fend for her little baby she so much cherishes and would do anything to protect.

As if that was not enough, all her toil in the cold weather of Jos, over the years, to eke out a living, went with the lingering crises that had enveloped the state in recent times. According to Princess Momoh, who hails from Owan Local Government Area of Edo State, she came to Abuja with her kid early 2011 as refugees. They had to put up in an uncompleted building for a long time in one of the Abuja suburbs because she could not afford the rent for a room.

Her travails were made worse when she met one of the coordinators of Jonathan 2011 Support Group on June 29, 2010. Princess Momoh said she met the Coordinator with two scripted jingles titled "Jonathan 2011 and "A New Dawn" and was made to borrow money from people for the production of the jingles, only for them to be hijacked.

She stated that ''the coordinator took an interest in my script. After the production was done, he disappeared and I never saw him again. I was usually told he was busy, he would not want to see anybody or that he was not around. Meanwhile, he was always around".

She added: "This continued until we ran into armed robbers in the process. The robbers took away copies of jingles we laboured over and took loans in producing at the studio. They took my ID card, my demo-production, tape recorder, handbag, and all that I was given and managing with my baby. In the process, they almost harmed me and my baby but God intervened. They pushed us into the bush''.

Princess Momoh, speaking with tears rolling down her face, while describing the pains and agony she had gone through producing those jingles, further revealed that she suffered the same fate in the hands of a former Deputy Governor.

She said: "Again, I had to start all over again when the women wing came in, still on Jonathan Support Group. I had to do a similar scripting and presented them to a one-time Deputy Governor. I started afresh with her, I presented the demo production of my jingle titled "A New Dawn," which was on my cell phone, to her and she took an interest in it and handed me over to one man in her media unit that we should work together.

"We did the work and after everything nothing came out of it. It was 'come today, come tomorrow' and I discovered finally that she was not really being sincere with me. I had thought that she was working with me as a mother would do to a daughter. At the end of the day, she pushed me again and referred me to people that I might not be able to see in the next one year.

"Eventually, all that I have laboured on with my baby for close to seven months now, since June 29, 2010, just went like that. We are on the streets, I sell baby's clothes every Friday market at Mpape, and on Mondays in Garki Village Market, just to make ends meet. Yet, I have things I can do, my baby can do beautifully well, take some lines, do jingles, do poems and some other beautiful things to add value to her life and to the society," she stated.

Also, it was the little Mimiemiracle that thrilled the audience during the 2010 celebration of the Day of African Child with her poem recitation. The poem titled 'The Child' was also scripted by the mother.

The young girl's last hope was when she came in contact with the First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan at the end -of -the- year children's party she organized. To her, meeting one-on-one with the wife of the President had provided a golden opportunity to present the beautiful projects they did for President Jonathan but were hijacked by the politicians.

At the occasion, Mimiemiracle said she summoned courage to personally hand over the two copies of the jingle one audio and one visual jingles she helped the mother to produce on President Goodluck Jonathan to the wife. The seven-year-old girl said she was surprised that nothing has been heard from the First Lady or the President till date even when her mother did a follow up with letters to remind her and copied the President.

Mimiemiracle appealed to President Jonathan and other public -spirited individuals to help her go back to school to continue with her education. "I want to tell Mr. President that I will be grateful if he can raise some money for me to be able to start school again, not that today I will be in school, tomorrow I will stay at home."

A 7-year-old girl (name withheld) is undergoing series of medical tests following the illicit sex a 45-year-old man, Sunday Jacob, had with her.

Mr. Jacob was arrested on June 6th for allegedly defiling the victim at different occasions at his number 4, Benson Otile Street, Ajangbadi, a Lagos suburb.

He was alleged to have defiled the victim, who stayed briefly with with her grandmother a few street away, everytime she went to the suspect's premises to fetch water from a well.

Mr. Jacob allegedly lured the victim into his one-room apartment with N20, and had sex with her when nobody was watching. However, luck ran out on him when the victim began to experience series of stomach aches. When queried by her mother, who is an itinerant trader, she confessed that Mr. Jacob had been defiling her.

Frank Mba, the Lagos State Police spokesperson, said clinical test confirmed that the victim has been defiled.

"On June 6th 2010, there was a report at the Ilemba Hausa Police Station, about 10.30pm, that one Theresa Moses, of Orisan Street, Iyana-Agbede, Ajangbadi, reported that that one Sunday Jacob, a 45-year-old man of number 4, Benson Otile Street, Ajangbadi, was involved in a series of acts amounting to defilement of her 7 years old daughter. The police swung into action, carried out a meticulous investigation, and submitted the necessary documents to the Badagry Hospital.

"The little girl was tested and the medical report said her hymen is not intact, and there is foul odour from her virgina. The police will still proceed with more clinical and forensic investigation to know if the foul odour is a presence of infection, and how badly this little girl has been injured."

The confession

Mr. Jacob admitted to "fingering" the victim. He said loneliness led him to defile the girl. The suspect, a widower and father of an 18-year-old lady, said he has been lonely since his wife died three years ago and his daughter left him for the village.

"I be mechanic for Agboju bus stop. Any time wey this girl and her sisters come my compound come fetch water, I go dey eye her. When nobody dey look, I come tell her make she come my room come collect N20 make she take buy biscuit. When she enter my room, I go lay down for bed come carry her for my lap. I go come use my finger put am for her virgina. I no dey put my penis inside her; na only finger I dey use. I don do this thing like four times and na on Sunday, around say 8 ‘o'clock, when she come fetch water na him I go do this thing to her. I regret wetin I do because e no good."

Mr. Mba said the suspect committed an offence punishable under Section 218 of the Criminal Code.

"This act is not only an offence, but indeed, morally reprehensible and section 218 of the Criminal Code states that "any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 13 years is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for life.

"Also, section 218 states that any person who attempts to have carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 13 is guilty of a felony and liable to 14 years imprisonment. It is a serious offence and the police will investigate and prosecute the suspect accordingly."