Despite the passage of the Violence against Persons Prohibition Act law by the Bauchi state House of Assembly, incidences of rape is still trending as a 38 year old man has been accused of raping a 5 year old girl in the state.
A human rights group known as Prison Inmate Development Initiative (PIDI-Nigeria) in a press release by its Executive Director, Cate Iya Rize, which was issued to journalists on Tuesday in Bauchi, alleged that a five year old girl known as Mariya Suleiman was raped by one Saleh Hassan, popularly called "Shoe Shiner" at Unguwar Hardo, a suburb area in the Bauchi state capital.
The Human Right group alledged that Saleh Hassan, in carrying out the hideous act, drugged the five year old minor.
"Saleh Hassan is a 38 years old, single and also the chairman of Peace and Security Committee (YAN Committee) in Paparanda Unguwan Hardo in Bauchi State. The suspect also lives in the same street with the parent of the Victim, Mariya Suleiman"
"The case was reported to the Paralegal Unit of PIDI-Nigeria on Saturday.The monitoring and Investigation unit of the organisation went into further investigation on the matter. On getting to the area where the victim lives, we met with the mother of Mariya, Mrs. Sureya Abubakar and her father Malam Suleiman Idris"
"Findings by PIDI revealed that Mrs Sureya had on the 16th day of July 2020, sent the victim (Mariya) to go and buy Spaghetti at about 7:00am, unfortunately, she did not return on time", the statement reads.
The statement said that the mother of the child, noticed that she was leaping on returning home and asked where she had been and what was wrong with her. After conducting checks on her child, the mother discovered that she was raped.
"On persistent inquiry, the victim alleged that she was raped by one, uncle Saleh, saying that when she got the spaghetti, on her way coming home, he called her and asked to take one medicine"
"She said it was after she took the medicine that she slept off. The minor said when she woke up, Uncle Saleh showed her a knife and said if she tell anybody, she will be killed", the statement added
According to the statement, the suspect is being detained by the police while the victim was taken to a gynecologist at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital in Bauchi, where several test conducted on her, revealed that there was forceful penetration in her private part.
PIDI-Nigeria lamented the helplessness of the minor, and called on the police to prosecute the suspected rapist. The Chief Judge of the state and every other organization in the state have been urged to ensure that the case is served with justice. NNL.
