Stakeholders have called on the authorities to ensure justice for the victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in the country, Keren-Happuch Akpagher and Ochanya Elizabeth Ogbanje, who were raped to death some years ago.
They made the call yesterday in Abuja during the unveiling of a book, “Tears from the Graves”, written by Lemmy Ughegbe, during an event organised by the Men Against Rape Foundation in memory of the late Keren and other victims of SGBV.
Recall that Keren, a 14-year-old student of Premier Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, died on June 19, 2021, after she contracted sepsis after she was allegedly raped. She was alleged to have died of an infection after a condom was found in her private part.
Also, Ochanya, a 13-year-old girl, died in 2021 after being allegedly raped serially by a lecturer, Andrew Ogbuja, and his son.
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Speakers at the event lamented that justice was yet to be done in the cases of Keren and Ochanya three years after, asking the authorities to rise up to the occasion.
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Press Corps, Comrade Grace Ike, in her remarks at the event, charged lawmakers at the national and state levels to prioritise the establishment of sexual offenses courts nationwide in a bid to tackle the menace of sexual abuse in the country.
The journalist, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the FCT chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said the book demonstrated the collective resolve to confront and eradicate the pervasive issue.
Daily Trust reports that the book is a collection of poems on SGBV in memory of Keren-Happuch Aondodoo Akpagher and several other victims aimed at creating awareness to comprehensively tackle the vice in the society and is dedicated to the memory of the victims.