...Urges House of Reps to commence Public Hearing on Keren-Happuch
Following the resignation of the founder and members of the management board of Dowen College, Lagos as a result of the controversies over the death of its 12 year old student, Sylvester Oromoni, Men Against Rape Foundation (MARF) has lauded their gesture.
Executive Director of the anti-rape foundation, Lemmy Ughebe, who is committed to curtailing all forms of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) across Nigeria, noted that the resignation of the founder and board members was a mark of honour.
Ughegbe, who stated these at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, advised that other schools enmeshed in alleged cases of sexual molestation of their students should emulate the example set by Dowen College instead of grandstanding and embarking on propaganda simply in a bid to preserve their business interest.
He said; “We want to commend the steps taken by Dowen in the founder and board resigning. Although their resignation doesn’t automatically translate to guilt, they are honest enough to say their school needs to rework its administrative architecture in order to avert such situations in future as they have had with Sylvester case.
“This is a mark of honour especially given the fact that recent findings during the coroner inquest have absolved them of wrongdoing.
“If the school in Keren’s case were as humane as Dowen, rather than resort to intimidating her mother and the Coalition, we would already have made more progress in cracking the case. They ought to emulate Dowen,” he said.
Ughegbe commended the Speaker of the House of Representatives and members for resolving to conduct public hearing into the circumstances into the rape and eventual death of Keren-Happuch Aondodoo Akpagher, a student of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja.
He urged the Speaker to expedite action to commence the investigative public hearing saying that the world was anxiously waiting for the culprit to be brought to justice.
Ughegbe further said; “We shall be asking for the CCTV footages of 15th and 16th of June, 2021 which the police has asked them for upon our request and they have failed to provide them since. These footages will answer the question as to what happened to Keren since intelligence report confirmed that she could not walk to class on the 16th of June 2021, and the matron of the school also confirmed that she did not show up at the clinic same day for her insulin medication, which she was dependent on.
“How come the matron didn’t see a child who is dependent on her insulin and never bothered to look for her? This and many more questions shall be raised during the public hearing,” Ughegbe stressed.
