Abia Govt disowns gang rape video at Abia State Univ. – Calls it a ruse

Posted by admin Abia, National Politics, State News, Top Stories Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Abia State Commissioner for Information, Chief Don Ubani, has said the state is not bothered about the speculation that a female student of the Abia State University, Uturu, was gang-raped by five suspected cult members also believed to be students of the institution.

The yet-to-be identified female was allegedly raped on August 16 and the dastardly act was posted on the Internet on August 17.

But describing the video as a “ruse,” the commissioner insisted that the story had no basis and had yet to be reported to the police in the state.

A News Agency of Nigeria correspondent who watched the video clip posted on the Internet, reports that it shows five young men having intercourse in a barbaric manner with a lady.

Voices from the video claimed that the incident took place at ABSU and that the victim and the perpetrators were students of the university.

However, Ubani told NAN in Umuahia that “the issue of gang rape in Abia State University is a mere ruse, such a thing did not happen.’’

Meanwhile, the university also on Wednesday disowned the supposed five-man gang who roundly subjected the girl to rape, saying that both the victim and suspects were not their students.

The university authorities made this known at a press conference in Umuahia, the state capital.

The Dean, Student Affairs, Dr. Udo Nwokocha, said the university had conducted thorough investigations and discovered that the purported incident neither took place in ABSU nor were the rapists or victim students of the school.

He stated that the university authorities had been receiving telephone calls on the issue, hence decided to clarify its position.

Nwokocha said the Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, had called to inquire of the incident, saying, “the management of the institution and the minister are in constant touch in the effort to get to the root of the incident.”

The don said security agencies had been investigating the matter, adding that “from what we learnt the boys would soon be apprehended, as they are closing in on them.”

The dean, who was flanked by the President of ABSU Student Union, Mr. Christian Afulike, said, “The same video clip has been circulating in other universities in the country in the past few months and we wonder why it is being linked to our university.

“We want to vouch for the enviable reputation of our students and therefore want to disassociate them from this immoral, animalistic and dehumanising act. The Abia State University community is grossly embarrassed by the publication and its concomitant negative effect on the image of the university.

In carrying out investigations, he said the university had engaged the students to watch the video clip and see if they could identify any of the persons in the video.

Meanwhile, the President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, has said her organisation is currently researching into the issue through its structures in Abia State. She stressed that the group had already opened up discussion with the police on the issue.

Okei-Odumakin said, “We hope to mount pressure on the Nigeria Police especially, the Abia State Police Command to fish out these five shameless rapists. We are sending a very strong petition to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, to demand that the five male cult members be fished out.

“We are demanding that since they have the guts to video record the incident, and were talking as they were carrying out the dastardly act the police must use the video and the information thereof to hunt them out.

She added that her organisation would send signals to all progressive groups in Abia such as the Campaign for Democracy; Civil Liberties Organisation; Committee for the Defence of Human Rights; Women Groups and all civil society organisations in the state to quickly organise and form a coalition around the issue to fight it to the end.wp_posts