Daily Trust
Five years after the alleged abduction of a Yenagoa-based minor, Ese Rita Oruru, from her mother’s shop at Ekeki community by a man called Yunusa Dahiru (Yellow), who later married her unlawfully in Kano, the family said both the Bayelsa and Delta State governments are yet to fulfill any of the promises made to Ese and her family.
On February 29, 2016, Ese, then 13, was reportedly rescued by the Kano State Police. She was later revealed to be five months pregnant with her abductor’s child after being released.
During the heat of the incident, the Bayelsa State government had promised to take care of Ese and her pregnancy until she delivered, award scholarship to her to continue with her education after delivery and provide her accommodation in Yenagoa.
Chief Henry Seriake Dickson was the governor of Bayelsa State at the time the incident happened in 2015. He is currently representing Bayelsa West Senatorial district at the National Assembly.
Also, Delta State governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, who sent a powerful delegation made up of top government officials to visit Ese Oruru and her family who are from the state but residing in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State at that time, promised to give her scholarship, but later claimed they had no provision for that.
Okowa, who newly assumed office as the governor of Delta State at the time of the incident, showed interest in Ese’s case, but surprisingly, the family revealed that the promises by the Delta State government was yet to be fulfilled.
Though the Federal High Court in Yenagoa had last year sentenced Yunusa Dahiru to 26 years in prison for offences bothering on rape, forceful marriage and abduction, the Oruru family said the incident has brought untold hardship to the family as they had to relocate from Yenagoa, where they were doing business to their village because of their safety.
Dahiru is currently serving his term at the facility of the Nigeria Correctional Service in Bayelsa State.
Before his conviction, Yunusa had said that it was Ese that fell in love with him, accepted Islam and also insisited on getting married to him.
I hawk to fend for the family – Mrs Oruru
Ese’s mother, Mrs. Rose Oruru, who spoke with Daily Trust, said five years after all the promises by Bayelsa and Delta state governments, both state governments have not redeemed their promises.
She said: “No official from the two state governments have called to ask about anything since then, I’m just living my life and hustling to feed my family.
“We have tried to reach out to both Bayelsa and Delta state governments and nobody is answering us, it is God that has sustained us these past years. I’m just hawking to cater for the family.
“Ese finished secondary school last year. She has not gotten admission to the university yet, but we are praying she gets admission soon, because our hope is that she graduates and fulfills her educational dreams.
“I and my family don’t want to disturb ourselves about such promises, because it shows the type of leaders we have in Nigeria, they will say one thing now and do a different one a minute after.
“Even the accommodation that was given to us in Yenagoa by the Bayelsa State government, we only stayed there for one year before some issues came up and we had to relocated to our village in Delta State.
“At the moment, nobody is helping us except God. Every day, as the sun rises, I will hit the streets with few things that I hawk to take care for myself and family, but we are happy that justice was don’t last year by that judgment.
Also, in 2018, Ese’s father – Mr. Charles Oruru, lamented that the family has been abandoned by the governments that made a lot of promises to them.
According to him, all the promises made by the governments of Bayelsa and Delta states as well as some non-governmental organisations with regard to Ese’s scholarship had not been fulfilled.
He said since all the promises did not come to fruition, he had to relocate Ese, her child and other family members to their hometown in Ughelli, Delta State.
He recalled that three months after Ese was delivered of her baby, some persons allegedly attempted to ‘steal’ the baby at the Police Officers’ Mess in Yenagoa where Ese and the baby were residing then.
“After that incident, I had to take Ese and the baby away from there. So, we took them to Ughelli in Delta State. After they left, I started making efforts to get the scholarship the Bayelsa State Government promised Ese after giving birth.”
This story first appeared in Daily Trust
