Ese Oruru in police custody, near delivery
Fourteen-year-old Miss Ese Oruru, aka 'Government Child,' looking wild, March 2, when she returned to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, from where she was abducted, six months earlier, by Yunusa Dahiri, aka Yellow and taken to Kano and forced into early marriage, has reclaimed her serenity, and is now in the third trimester of her pregnancy.
Yunusa is a commercial tricycle operator, who claimed that he and Ese were lovers and said their relocation to Kano, his home state, without the say-so of Ese's parents was mutually decided by both of them.
Investigations by Niger Delta Voice showed that Oruru, whose domicile has remained the Police Officers' Mess, located some distance away from the Federal Medical Centre and the headquarters of the Bayelsa State Police Command in the Ovom suburb of the state capital, is due to deliver anytime from now.
Life in her new home has helped to stabilize her greatly after her abductor-lover converted to Islam under duress and the Bayelsa state government has re-registered her for the Junior Secondary School, JSS III Examination, later in the year, which she could not write, last year, because of her kidnap.
Our source disclosed: 'Ese has been living a reticent life since she returned because the police barred her classmates and friends from her. Only her parents and siblings are allowed to visit her, but that in a way has assisted in her recovery.
Ese, from Uwheru, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State has not been staying with her parents since her liberation. At her new abode in the Police Officers' Mess, Yenagoa, the place is out of bound to visitors, including her former schoolmates and teachers. Those authorized to see her are her parents, siblings and medical team.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Peter Ogunyawo and his wife, it was found out, were of tremendous assistance in the rehabilitation magic that Ese has undergone so far.
A security source, who spoke anonymously, asserted: 'She is still under police protection with the consent of her parents. The decision to accommodate the minor at the police facility was to facilitate her healing process and enable her pick up the pieces of life. This measure, I must say has paid off as she has regained her composure unlike when she was rescued.'
It was also gathered that aside from the Police and the Bayelsa government's help, non-governmental organizations and civil society organisations as well as her Urhobo folks have marvelously supported her well-being by way of ante-natal materials.
Third trimester
Indications have emerged that Ese's pregnancy is in the third trimester, meaning she is near delivery. This was collaborated in court, last Thursday, when the prosecution counsel urged the court to delay the private trial of the victim, as her present condition would not allow her to give evidence following the ruling by the trial judge granting the prosecution request for private hearing for her.
Her elder sister, who refused to disclose whether Ese was living with the family or otherwise, confirmed her stable health condition as an expectant mother.
She said the family was still residing in their former residence in Opobo hamlet of the capital city, but independent sources said the Orurus have relocated from their Opolo residence to a two-bedroom apartment in another part of Yenagoa, which he refused to disclose. Attempt to get the father, Mr. Charles Oruru on phone to speak with NDV proved abortive, as he was not picking his calls.
Ese, daughter of Mr. Charles Oruru, a jobless wood merchant and Mrs. Rose Oruru, a food vendor, was relatively unknown until the sad turn of events in her life, last August, when she reportedly left home to see her injured classmate at Tombia and never returned.
Before she was allegedly abducted August 12, 2015, Niger Delta Voice gathered that Ese was an obedient and dutiful girl, always assisting the mother at her Opolo restaurant where Yunusa was a regular caller. Her friends described as a brilliant student whose ambition is to become a nurse, a noble professional known for its compassion and selfless service to humanity.
However, fate appeared to have dealt a cruel blow on the ambition following her supposed abduction, which denied her the opportunity of sitting for the the JSS examination, last year, a first step to actualizing her ambition of becoming a nurse.
Ese's dream might have been temporarily altered by the turn of events in her life, but the Bayelsa State government has promised to keep her dream of becoming a nurse alive by taking care of her education whenever she is fit to return to school.
Though Ese could not return to school immediately to join her classmates, who were eager to see her, Niger Delta Voice gathered that she has since been re-registered as a JSS III student at her old school where she is expected to write the JSS III Examination, later in the year. Miss Oruru was to sit for the same examination where the sad incident occurred.
Principal of Central Epie Secondary School, Opolo, Yenagoa Local Government Area, the school where Ese Rita Oruru was attending before her abduction saga, Mr. Matthias Banigo, confirmed the development. Banigo said: 'Ese Oruru is now a state government student, the state government has re-registered her for the junior WAEC. If she is in good condition, she will join others to write the examination.'
However, Banigo hinted that since Ese Oruru returned from Kano, she was barred from seeing her friends and classmates, who went to her parents' house to see her upon her return.
'Ese Oruru has been cut-off from her school. She has not made contact with us and they will not allow us to see her because they say that she is in government protective custody. When her friends and classmates visited her home, they could not see her and they were told that she is not at home,' the principal said.
Her classmate and friend, H. Ozikime, said: 'I have known Ese for four years now, we became close friends because I wanted to learn mathematics from her and she wanted to learn science subjects from me. I was able to meet her mother, her brother and sisters and even knew her house and mother's shop.'
Another classmate, Adama Miebimo, added, 'I met her the first day I started school, I happened to share the same seat with her and from then we became friends. She is very intelligent; her favourite subject is Mathematics, English and Integrated Science. She wanted to concentrate on science subjects because she wants to become a nurse in future.'
Kayode Olaosebekan, the lawyer representing Daihiru Yunusa, aka 'Yellow', standing trial on a five -count charge of criminal abduction and sexual exploitation of a minor, Miss Ese Oruru, said the media blitz, which the matter generated has adversely affected his client.
'The condition the court gave us is that all the sureties must be resident here and this is with no thanks to you the media guys. Everybody here is against our client, when we get somebody and we are perfecting the bail, once you say, it is for Yunusa Dahiru, they would say that boy that kidnapped our daughter? That is the problem we are facing,' he said.
Olaosebekan disclosed that he had filed a motion to review the bail conditions as they were having challenges securing bail for the accused person.
According to the legal practitioner, they want the court to expand the territorial jurisdiction of the sureties, stressing that the demography of the sureties, which provides that the sureties must likely be traditional title holders from Bayelsa or from a South-South state, was posing a serious bottleneck, as no one was willing to stand as surety.
Justice H. Nganjiwa of the Federal Court, Yenagoa, had, March 20, granted the accused person bail in sum of N3 million and two sureties in like computation. The sureties must be resident in the jurisdiction of the court with one of them as a renowned titleholder in the community and the other a public servant from level 12 and above. – Vanguard.