Abia govt changes position on gang rape

Posted by admin Abia, Headlines, State News Sunday, September 25th, 2011

ABIA State Government has said its statement on the gang rape video clip was based on claims by the Vice-Chancellor of the state University, the institution’s student union government and the state police commissioner.

Five suspected members of a cult group had gang-raped a student of ABSU, recorded the incident and posted it on the Internet, a development that had triggered an uproar across the country.

The state government had earlier described the claim that five students from the state university gang-raped a female student as false, insisting that such an incident did not take place within the university.

But the Media Adviser to the State Governor, Mr. Bonny Iwuoha, explained that the earlier position of the state government on the matter was based on the report credited to the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Chibuzor Ogbuagu, the institution Students Union Government and the police.

Iwuoha, who argued that the matter was still an allegation, recalled that Ogbuagu, the school’s SUG and the police had maintained that there was no rape incident.

He said, “The statement that was made initially by the state government was based on the report of the Vice-Chancellor, President of the university’s student union government and the police.

“The Vice-Chancellor said nothing of that nature happened. The university’s SUG and the police also said there was no rape incident. So the state government reacted based on that.”

Iwuoha said the state government would still rely on the ongoing investigation by the police before taking a position on the matter.

The Abia State Commissioner of Police, Bala Hassan, on Sunday confirmed that the police had apprehended two of the five suspects allegedly involved in the rape.

Hassan said the police acted on the information given about the identity of the suspects on the Internet to make its arrest, adding that they were working hard to apprehend the remaining three.

The CP said the suspects were arrested within the Uturu campus of the university.

He could not disclose if the police had made further findings in the cause of unravelling the identity of the rape victim.

Hassan, however, said those arrested were “mere suspects” as the Internet site that broke the story of the rape incident in the university did not disclose the full names of the purported rapists.

The CP said no five names listed as the assumed rapists had their surnames attached to them, saying it would be difficult for the police to identify the likely culprits.

-Punchwp_posts