Education
‘How Nigeria Failed Me’ Mother Of Girl Allegedly R@ped In Top Abuja Private School Laments
One thousand two hundred and ninety-four days after the death of a -14-year-old boarding student of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, Miss Keren-Happuch Aondodoo Akpagher, the family has accused the police of a grand cover-up and insincerity in its investigation.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, mother of the late 14-year-old, Mrs Vivien Vihimga Akpagher lamented the failure of government and relevant agencies of government to apprehend the culprits and bring them to book.
While she accused the school of working behind the scene to suppress evidence of the culpability of its officials she, however, as a sign of healing said she would drop the N10 billion suit she filed against the school.
Whilst maintaining her stance of the culpability of the school, she, however, promised to apologise if the school should make available the CCTV images of 15th and 16th June 2021 that could have debunked her assertions.
GWG.ng reports that Keren died on the 22nd of June 2021 after allegedly contracting sepsis from a condom left inside her by a killer rapist, which reportedly compromised her immunity spike her blood sugar, causing hyperglycaemia.
The grieving mother accused the police of sloppy investigations into the case alleging that the police took sides with the school and allowed evidence to be compromised. She further accused other authorities including the erstwhile minister of women affairs, Mrs Paullen Tallen of failing to back the investigations into the case.
“Since the death of my beloved child, Keren, whom I entrusted to the management of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja in their boarding care, neither relevant government agencies not the police have been sensitive, faithful or committed to fishing out the culprit or culprits, who did not only rape her, but sodomised and left condom inside her while threatening and numbing her into silence”, Mrs Akpagher lamented.
She said the police also failed to retrieve CCTV footages from the 54 cameras in the school, which would have shown that Keren was unable to walk to class and was in pain crying, noting that instead, the police allowed the school to tamper with evidence.
The statement from Mrs. Akpagher reads:
’’Since the death of my beloved child, Keren, whom I entrusted to the management of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja in their boarding care, neither relevant government agencies not the police have been sensitive, faithful or committed to fishing out the culprit or culprits, who did not only rape her, but sodomised and left condom inside her while threatening and numbing her into silence.
As I have always said, nothing will bring my daughter back. So, when I fight to demand justice, it is because I do NOT want the fate that befell Keren to befall any other child after her. I do not want any other mother to walk in my shoes and be in the space I have been in the last 2 years plus. Nothing I do will bring Keren back. Absolutely nothing. But I have done what my child would have expected me to do. I have raised my voice to ensure that her story is told. AND I thank Lemmy Ughegbe for risking his life and putting in his time and substance to support me and hold me up. I thank him, Men Against Rape Foundation and Amnesty International for helping me and my family.
The road ahead is still quite steep. Healing seems so far away. I am in a bad place. But I saw a message recently, which my daughter left me in a book. She told the story of how she was abused brutally. She said they were old men who kept molesting her. Sadly, she did not name them. But she rounded off the message by asking me to focus my energy on her brothers to help them survive the wicked world.
Surely, she is in a better place. And it is time to focus on her brothers. As a family, we shall begin the healing process. It will not be easy. But by God, we shall do all that is possible, to heal. We shall keep Keren’s memory alive with Keren’s Safe Haven Foundation.
I have lived through hell in these last few years. Now, I know what trauma is. I have listened to my beloved child and dropped the N10Billion suit I filed against her school. This is a step in my healing process, for me, as an individual and as a family. I know that the truth will be unravelled one day. And as much as I now want to withdraw into privacy and begin the healing process with my family, I know that the insensitive school will go public with propaganda. When they come to you – tell them to provide CCTV footages of 15th and 16th of June 2021. If they do that and you go through it and do not find anything about Keren’s abuse – I will go on national television to apologise, but until then it is my position that my daughter was raped, sodomised and bullied into silence in that school until she died. They tampered with evidence to escape justice.’’
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