By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
In its bid to fight against all forms of human rights abuses, a coalition of women-focused groups in Rivers State has condemned the alleged assault on Ms Miller Uchechi Ogadinma by the Ahoada West Local Government Council Chairman, Hon Eugene Epelle.<\/p>\n
Ogadinma was reportely assaulted alongside her mother under the supervision of the Council Chairman for posting the delapitated state of the Community Secondary School, Odiokwu, on social media, calling for government attention to the neglected school. <\/p>\n
The incident sparked outrage, with the groups saying it undermines efforts to promote women’s rights and good governance, while several other bodies and rights groups in the state have also berated the Ahoada West Council Chairman, Eugene Epelle, condemning his actions. <\/p>\n
The groups, including Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, Society for Women and Youth Affairs, Centre for Gender Equity and Sustainable Development, Amaclare Connect and Development Initiative, League of Queens International Empowerment and Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), in a statement in Port Harcourt on Saturday, described the attack as “unhealthy, unconstitutional, and a challenge to the promotion of good governance in the society”.<\/p>\n
The statement reads in part, “Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre and a coalition of other women focused groups unequivocally condemn the reported assault of Ms Miller Uchechi Ogadinma in Ahoada West Local Government Area in Rivers State by the Council Chairman, Eugene Epelle, for courageously drawing attention to the dire conditions of the only secondary school in her community. <\/p>\n
“The attack on Ms Ogadinma for voicing her concerns regarding the inadequate resources on the poor infrastructure at the community secondary school in Odiokwu, and bringing attention to the neglect of the school, meant to intimidate and muzzle citizens, is unhealthy, unconstitutional and a challenge to the promotion of good governance in the society. It violates the Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which provides for the protection of all persons from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” <\/p>\n
The groups demanded that the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Prof Ngozi Odu, the State House of Assembly, and other officials including the police, take immediate action to address the situation, including investigating the incident, providing protection for Ogadinma, and addressing the deplorable conditions of public schools in Odiokwu, and bring perpetrators to justice.<\/p>\n
“We call on the Rivers State Governor, Sir. Siminalayi Fubara, to direct that the matter be investigated promptly and that an independent inquiry be instituted to establish the facts.<\/p>\n
“The Rivers State House of Assembly: The House Committee on Women should bring this matter to the floor of the House and get it treated with sufficient seriousness and the urgency it requires to deter other public officials from engaging in similar unprogressive action.<\/p>\n
“We also urge the Rivers State Police Command to carry out a fast, impartial and transparent criminal investigation; to collect and preserve evidence; and to ensure that any person reasonably suspected of criminal conduct is brought before a competent court in accordance with the law.”<\/p>\n
The groups also demanded that the Ahoada West Council Chairman, Eugene Epelle, tender a formal public apology to Ms Ogadinma and take responsibility for covering all medical expenses and any additional reparative measures required by the survivor.<\/p>\n
They added that, “It is the duty of every public official to be open to feedback and to steadfastly protect rights of citizens to speak out without fear of violence or retribution. It is an undeniable truth that the pursuit of better education and accountability should be met with support, not hostility.<\/p>\n
“We urge the authorities to provide regular public updates on the status of investigations and to make findings available to the public, consistent with due
\nprocess and the need to protect the survivor\u2019s privacy and safety. Justice must not only be demanded; it must be seen,” they stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent In its bid to fight against all forms of human rights abuses, a coalition of women-focused groups in Rivers State has condemned the alleged assault on Ms Miller Uchechi Ogadinma by the Ahoada West Local Government Council Chairman, Hon Eugene Epelle. Ogadinma was reportely assaulted alongside her mother under the supervision of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[160,1207,6226,6124,1423],"class_list":["post-11636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-development","tag-measures","tag-reparative","tag-required","tag-sustainable"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11638,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636\/revisions\/11638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}