The long arm of the law has caught up with a 28-year-old rape suspect, Godwin Archibong who allegedly defiled and sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl at Mpape, Abuja, and avoided arrest for over six months.
Archibong’s arrest followed the intervention of two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development (PRIMORG), and Jewel Hive Initiative, who are now urging the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to take over the case to ensure that justice is adequately served.
This was as the Gender Unit of the FCT Police Command, confirmed that the suspect, who had been on the run for over six months, was arrested by concerned citizens and handed over to the Mpape Police station and later transferred to their facility.
The victim’s father, Ousmane Abdou, reported the brutal and cruel sexual attack against his daughter after listening to the anti-corruption radio program, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by PRIMORG, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in Abuja, describing his daughter’s predicament as an attempted murder and lamenting the inability of the Police to arrest the suspect for prosecution.
The 17 years old victim (names withheld) was allegedly lured and sexually molested, raped, physically injured and bruised, a development that led the family to move her to different health facilities for medical attention.
Counsellors from PRIMORG and Jewel Hive Initiative had advised Abdou (father of the victim) on steps to take to increase the chances of arresting the suspect (Archibong) without violating the laws.
Accordingly, the suspect was nabbed on June 20, 2024, by people living in the environs where the rape incident was said to have taken place.
Following the development, the NGOs are now calling on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, to take over the case and ensure that justice is adequately dispensed if the suspect is found guilty.
The appeal to the Minister for Justice was contained in a letter signed by Mr. Oluwatoyin Falaiye on behalf of Jewel Hive Initiative.
The letter read in part: “While we appreciate the effort of the Police so far, we humbly implore you (Attorney General of the Federation) to take over the case from the FCT Police command and charge same to court for prosecution.
“The aim is to ensure that justice is adequately done in this matter and the suspect, if found guilty, should face the full wrath of the law. We strongly believe that this case will be handled with utmost urgency as we continue the fight to curb the rate of sexual violence in our society”.
Reacting to the issue, PRIMORG’s Executive Director, Augustine Okhiria Agbonsuremi, also called for the government to go all out and ensure justice is served, adding that the authorities must cease moments like this to send a strong message to prospective sexual gender-based violence offenders in Nigeria.
He further said; “Perpetrators of this crime called ‘rape’ must be severely and swiftly sanctioned. It must worry the Nigerian authorities that rape has assumed an epidemic status.
“No society should condone rape which regrettably has now become a serious social problem in our dear country. So I urge the government to be frontal in tackling the menace; families, religious and traditional institutions must also play their roles and importantly perpetrators must be made to face the full wrath of the law”, Agbonsuremi stated.
