The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) on Saturday urged the Federal Government to ensure justice for late Miss Ochanya Elizabeth Ogbanje, a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by a father and his son in Ugbokolo, Benue State.
Chairman, National Adhoc Committee on Gender Violence and other Related Issues of NMA, Dr. Godwin Tijani, in a statement in Lokoja said that justice to Ochanya would be justice to millions of women across the world who were victims of gender violence.
According to Tijani, the NMA takes the issue of rape as a crime against humanity, insisting that the government and other stakeholders should do the needful and bring the alleged perpetrators to justice.
He reiterated that there was an urgent need for Nigerians to rise against all forms of gender-based violence in the country.
“We have received with a deep shock the news of the death of Miss Elizabeth Ochanya Ogbanje, a 13-year-old pupil of Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Gboko, Benue State.
“We feel more saddened that her death was caused by a medical condition called “Vesicovaginal Fistula” and other related complications that arose from the alleged serial sexual abuses by a father and his son.
Tijani, however commended all the women groups and NGOs who had come out publicly to protest and condemned the act in its entirety, while soliciting for support towards its campaign against gender based violence in the country.
Tijani recalled that Ochanya was allegedly raped serially by one Mr Andrew Ogboja, 51, a lecturer in the Department of Catering and Hotel Management, Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, and his son, Victor Inalegwu Ogboja, a final year student at Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi.
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