The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, has dismissed the claim by the father of Yinusa Dahiru, aka Yellow, who was accused of abducting a 14-year-girl, Ese Oruru, that his son had not committed any crime.
Arase stated this on Thursday during a one-day awareness workshop on sexual and gender based violence in Nigeria, organised by the Nigeria Police, in collaboration with Cleen Foundation and Ford Foundation in Benin, the Edo State capital.
Ese was taken to Kano from Bayelsa in August 2015 by Yinusa, where he converted her to Islam and forcefully married her without the consent of her parents.
She was, however, released on February 29 and reunited with her family.
The father of the suspect, identified as Alhaji Dairu Bala, had reportedly said, at his Tofa home in Kuru Local Government Area of Kano State, that his son followed “his heart” when the teenage girl “fell in love” with him and “followed him.”
But Arase, who spoke through the Gender Officer, Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Mrs. Mairo Adebalogun, noted that Bala’s claim of innocence was irrelevant, insisting that Yinusa would be prosecuted.
Asked if the claim by the suspect’s father could stand in the face of the law, Arase said, “It does not. The father is not the person in picture of this issue right now; it is his son. The police is going to investigate and if they find him wanting, they will prosecute him.”
Meanwhile, a child protection specialist with the United Nation’s Children Emergency Fund, Mr. Tatenda Makoni, has called on state governments to strengthen their campaigns against sexual and gender based violence, as part of efforts to address the prevalence of the menace in the country.
