Commercial tricycles . PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRAN<br />
Operatives of the Bayelsa State police command have arrested three commercial tricycle riders popularly known as Keke NAPEP over the alleged gang rape of an 11-year-old girl in Yenagoa. The minor was reportedly gang-raped by the men in an uncompleted building along Azikoro village road.
The incident, which was carried out a fortnight ago, was reported to the police at Azikoro after a Speak Up campaign initiated by the Dise Ogbise Foundation (DOF). It was gathered that the victim, names withheld, was threatened with death by the three tricyclists.
The victim told the coordinator of DOF, Dise Ogbise-Erhisere, during the advocacy to schools how she was raped. Ogbise-Erhisere, a legal practitioner and chairperson of Sagbama branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), disclosed that over 20 cases of rape and defilements were recorded during the campaign.
According to her, “the accused tricyclists and others have all been arrested and we hope that they will be prosecuted soon. Another case is that of a 15-year-old girl that was raped on her way to the market. She kept quiet for over four months because she was threatened with death. The end result was pregnancy.”
Ogbise-Erhisere said the UNICEF report of 2018 indicated that at least one or more cases of sexual violence by paedophiles occur in Bayelsa daily with many unreported.
