SAN FRANCISCO, October 31, (THEWILL) – A fuming Senate on Thursday, unanimously demanded that the maximum punishment be meted out to the police corporal, Anthony Onoja, who is accused of sexually assaulting a two-year-old girl.
It also urged the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to commence the prosecution of the said police officer.
The officer was said to have committed the offence at Mararaba in Nasarawa State about two weeks ago.
The senators in the resolution, condemned the act in its entirety and consequently mandated its committee on Police Affairs to investigate the matter and report back within one week.
The Senate resolution was sequel to a motion, “Cruelty to Infants”, moved by Senator Helen Esuene.
She said Nigeria has been witnessing various acts of cruelty to babies, including kidnapping, abuse and outright sales as cheap commodities.
Esuene recalled that the recent incident was a case of criminality allegedly meted to a two-year-old girl, Chinwendu Onwudiwe, by a man who is supposed to up-hold the law.
According to her, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), on October 20, reported the alleged sexual assault on the two-year-old toddler by a neighbour who, incidentally, is a police officer.
She said even though the matter was immediately reported to the Police, the case is yet to be charged to court.
“Sections 31 and 32 of the Child’s Right Act make this case a criminal offence which attracts life imprisonment or 14 years jail term, depending on the nature of abuse.
“This is not the first time it has been reported in this hallowed chamber of a police officer sexually abusing an infant girl.
“The Senate should note the unacceptable situation of rape offenders often going unpunished. There is the need to arrest this impunity and weed out bad eggs and protect the image of the Nigeria Police.
“The Senate should note that, because of the innocence of our minors, they are very vulnerable to different forms of abuse by unscrupuluos persons,” she said.
Senators, who took to the floor to speak after Esuene, roundly condemned the rape incident, saying it bordered on insanity, sheer wickedness and for ritual purposes.
Deputy Senate Leader Abdul Ningi dismissed the incident as a mental case, saying it’s un-African and inhuman.
He admonished that the country returns to its history and core moral values, which emphasised human dignity.
“What this motion informs us is that as long as we don’t go back to history, as long as we don’t go back to humanity and begin to appreciate our culture and history as Africans, some of these anomalies would continue to happen,” he said.
Senator Chris Anyanwu was of the opinion that, as a way of curbing the social malaise, there should be a system that would protect the identity of people who lodge reports and complaints of rape incidents.
“I am not surprised by this incident. They are bound to continue; things are going bad and we are not doing anything.
“Our people have gone perverted; there is pervasion everywhere. Nigeria is becoming a sex tourism centre.
“It is worse with the Police and they are the reason things are going wrong.
“I will suggest we have a system where people can lodge report without their identity being revealed because those who report crimes go through a lot of ordeal that they don’t want to report again,” she said.
Senator Bello Tukur said, regrettably, it was no longer safe to say such a crime can be prevented by anybody and made reference to a baby factory recently discovered in Lagos where, he said, small girls were paid peanuts to produce babies.
Blaming the increasing incidence of girl-child rape on weak law enforcement and an ineffective state system, Senator Magnus Abe said nothing has been done to reported cases.
Senate President David Mark called for maximum punishment for the offender and cautioned against dismissing the issue as a mental case.
He also stressed the need to punish offenders, irrespective of their status in the society.
He said crimes are being committed all over the world but the case with Nigeria is that offenders are never apprehended or punished.
“The reason people obey laws is because of fear of punishment. If not, the normal tendency is for every human being to do the wrong thing.
“Crimes are committed all over the world; it is not only in Nigeria. But the difference is that when our own is committed, we don’t get the people who commit it and when we eventually find the people, we don’t punish them.
“I think we should begin to punish people who commit crimes, no matter how small or big, irrespective of who they are. I believe that this particular case must attract maximum punishment whichever way we look at it.
“Is it a mental case? Yes or no I say no because if the matter is taken to court and then, they say ‘no, it is a mental case’, that becomes an excuse for him to go scot-free. So, we must also be mindful of insisting that it is a mental case.
“I think that whether it is a mental case or not, it must get a maximum punishment,” Mark said.
He also regretted that since the incident, nothing has been heard of the Police and called for justice as soon as possible.
“Like it was rightly concluded, for you to do injustice to a child, it is better one is not born at all.
“And for what this man has done, that we have not heard any reaction so far is most worrisome. I don’t know what the Police has done up till this point in time and I don’t know if the sponsor of the motion has heard anything so far since this incident took place.
“I think by now, it should have been making headlines. The action taken by the Police should have been making headlined.
“But so far, we have not heard anything and I think this is one of the cases that whatever resolution we take here, the committee must make sure it is followed up as quickly as possible.
“Let me repeat what has been said of our resolutions. People don’t obey our resolutions because they are not binding.
“But we can make our resolutions binding and we have said it time without number that there is a pending bill, which will make our resolutions binding by two/third majority and not mere voice vote.
“It is not just rape, the person involved, the infant, is even a more serious issue whether it is rape or not,” he said.
BY EMMA UCHE, ABUJA
