Posted by Jane Okinedo on November 11, 2009 at 8:31pm
From DESMOND MGBOH, KanoWednesday, November 11, 2009Pain and anguish have continued to trail the cases of two female members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who were raped at gunpoint to a state of semi consciousness by a gang of 14 young men at their place of primary assignment in Fagge area of Kano State.advertisementThe corps members, whose identities are being kept secret by the relevant authorities, are of the Yoruba extraction, Daily Sun can confirm. One of them is a native of Lagos State while the other victim hails from Oyo State.The brutal assault, it was gathered, took place at the home of the female corps members, which is situated at the official ‘Corpers lodge’ of Adamu Vice Secondary School, in Fagge. This lodge is located within a walking distance from the secretariat of the Fagge Local Government Council and of a similar distance from the Fagge Divisional Police Station in the heart of the state capital.An eye-witnesse told the Daily Sun that the tragic incident, which occurred after midnight, on the November 3, 2009, had the entire 14-man gang sleeping with the ladies in turns. The raping took place after the gang had scared off the school’s gate men and the male corps members in their midst, locking up the former in a nearby female staff quarters and the latter in a small room in the compound.Spokesman to the Nigeria Police Force, Kano State, Superintendent Baba Mohammed confirmed the ugly incident in a chat with the Daily Sun on Tuesday. He disclosed that, so far four suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident, even as he pointed out that those in the custody of the police have since denied the commission of the act.Speaking also to the Daily Sun on Tuesday, the principal of Adamu Vice Secondary School , where the heinous act occurred Alhaji Mohammed Garba, said that although the corps members were domiciled in his quarters, they were actually engaged for their primary assignment by a nearby Women Centre , where they are teaching.According to his account of the abuse, “On the 3th of November, 2009, when my watchmen were outside and their fellow corps member were making free calls, they were suddenly invaded by a gang of about 14 men. They asked the maiguards (watchmen) to go inside the female staff quarters and also got the male corps members locked up in one room. The female corps members were already a sleep at the time. At first, the female victims refused to the open their doors, but they were later persuaded by the watchmen and the fellow corps members, who pleaded with them to open the door and avoid being killed”.He went further: “Later on, they opened the door. The gang first collected their money, then their handsets, their wrappers and their foodstuffs, which was in the carton, because one of them was about to travel and had arranged her things.And thereafter, they raped all of them.“When my maiguards (watchmen) saw what had happened, they sneaked through, jumped the window, and went out to inform the police, He said the school had so far shouldered the bills of the medication of the ill fated corps members, who were rushed, after the incident to the Murtala Hospital in the state.Sources close to the Daily Sun revealed that the ladies had since moved out of the lodge to an undisclosed location inside Sabon Garri area, where it was speculated that they were squatting with their Yoruba relatives, many of whom felt aggrieved.Ironically, the Fagge Local Government Chairman, Alhaji Tukur Mohammed, who is supposed to be the guardian of all the corps members posted to his domain, has demonstrated the coldest indifference to the plights of the rape victims. According to the principal, “Up to this time that I am talking to you, the Local Government Chairman has not turned up to take any responsibility for the medication of the victims. It was the school that took them to the hospital and it is the school that has been paying their bills.The NYSC State Coordinator in Kano State, Nuhu Kwage is away for the orientation exercise in Karaye local council but his officials have been on top of the development.
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