Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and popular lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday urged the Federal Government to prosecute the abductor of 14-year-old Ese Oruru and not treat the act on religious ground. The duo spoke at a press conference in Lagos. Soyinka particularly condemned the utterances of some individuals who, he said, were veiling the abduction with religion.
He noted that the society and the victim would get justice by prosecuting her abductor. Yunusa Dahiru had, in August 2015, abducted Ese from Bayelsa to Kano, forced her into marriage and converted her to Islam without her consent.
Soyinka also berated Prof. Ishaq Akintola of the Muslim Rights Concern for shielding the matter under religion. He said: “We should take religion out of Ese’s abduction. We are talking about criminality. Nobody should say people are Islam-phobic.
We are only against criminality. Who invokes religion in criminal matters? Who brings religion into issues of government and constitution? If you want to bring religion into a criminal matter, then let us talk about other things.”
Soyinka, who observed that the likes of an ex-governor and now a senator were violating the rights of the girl-child, expressed confidence that the Emir of Kano played his part to ensure that Ese was returned to Bayelsa when the matter was first brought to his attention.
Describing the emir as a modern traditional ruler who would transform the old order, the celebrated writer, however, promised to apologise if he was proved wrong on the role played by the emir in reuniting Ese with her parents.
Also speaking, Falana noted that Yunusa violated the rights of Ese as contained in Section 38 of the Constitution and the Child Rights Act. According to him, Akintola and others are only playing on the intelligence of the poor by bringing religion into the matter whereas none of them can allow their underage daughters to marry. Falana stated: “Infants should be put in school at the expense of government.
Some of them are raped, kidnapped and humiliated while hawking on the streets. People like Akintola are playing on the intelligence of the poor.” The lawyer further said sexual offences were on the rise in Nigeria because they had not been tackled within the confines of the law. In another vein, he called on the Nigerian Army Council to restore the rank of Brig-Gen. Enitan Ransome-Kuti who was demoted to a colonel. Falana said: “The Council should reverse his demotion.
The charges of cowardice, failure to carry out military responsibilities and loss of military equipment against him were quashed because they were not right. The six-month sentence on him was also quashed, but he had completed the term before the squashing. ”
Also, Soyinka urged the council to do the right thing by restoring Ransome- Kuti’s rank because, according to him, he did what was proper during the situation he found himself, adding that courage involves doing the right thing.
