The Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba has received the petition by the mother of a female Keren-Happuch who died of alleged rape.
The struggle for justice by Keren’s mother and a civil society coalition led by Lemmy Ughegbe, has kept the alleged rape case within the public domain for months now.
Addressing journalists at the weekend, Keren’s mother and the coalition anounced: “We are glad to notify you that the IGP has not only received our petition, he has acted on it as the case is now getting the attention of the Homicide Unit at the Force Headquarters upon the instruction of the top brass of the police”, they added.
The family of Keren-Happuch and the coalition pledged their readiness “to cooperate with the Homicide Department of the Force Headquarters and support it with credible intelligence which we have regarding the matter, some of which were misused and compromised by the FCT Police Command.”
They also said they will this week file for an order of mandamus to compel the hospitals and the police to release Certified True Copies of the medical and autopsy reports to them.
Earlier, Mother of late 14 year old Keren-Happuch Aondodoo Akpagher, Mrs Vivien Akpagher and the Coalition of Gender Based Violence (GBV) responders disclosed that contrary to recent reports the media, the post-mortem examination on the body of the deceased confirmed that she was not just raped, but she was also brutally sodomised by her abuser.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Mrs. Akpagher and the leader of the Coalition, Lemmy Ughegbe said the autopsy and medical report have established the incontrovertible fact that Keren-Happuch was brutally sexually abused.
They said no amount of propaganda by Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja(Keren’s School) would conceal the fact that she was raped and sodomised.
The duo said the autopsy found that Keren-Happuch had “whitish patches and excoriations on the labia majora and patulous anal opening and laxed anal sphincter with hymen absent”, which they argued is “a clear confirmation of sexual abuse that is rape and sodomisation of Keren-Happuch.”
Following the alleged rape of her child with condom left inside her which infected her with sepsis and triggered her diabetic condition leading to her death on 22nd of June 2021, her mother, Mrs. Akpagher had lodged a complaint against Premier Academy, Lugbe at the FCT Police Command.
“Gentlemen of the press, you know as much as we do that if the medical and autopsy report had gone against our claims that Keren was sexually abused, the police would have thrown the said reports in our faces. Instead, they are still hiding if from the victim’s families while releasing same to the school for propaganda”, they stated.
“We have watched with dismay and consternation the unconscionable penchant of Premiere Academy, Lugbe to embark on cheap propaganda to distort established facts regarding what led to the death of our beloved Keren-Happuch. Precisely on 16th of September 2021, Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja briefed the media feeding them with its diet of lies that Keren was not raped, but died of diabetes. In the media brief, the school said the autopsy report which it relied on to make the claims as to the cause of death of the 14 year old child was made available to them by the FCT Police Command”, Mrs Akpagher and Ughegbe stated.
However, when confronted by Mrs, Akpagher and her lawyer, Sani Izundu on claims by the school that it got the report from the FCT Command, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Mr. Fom Pam Joseph denied that he gave the school the said report it was relying on,
They raised several questions over the manner FCT Command of the Police Force has handled the issue of release or not of autopsy report.
They said “it is for this reason and more that we have petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), asking him to investigate the misconduct of the FCT Police command and transfer the case from it having been evidently compromised. We have always expressed our confidence in the person and character of the current Inspector General of Police is a fine officer who is exemplary in his discipline and conduct and would not tolerate such conduct unbecoming of police officers.”
