The 51-year-old lecturer in the Department of Catering and Hotel Management, Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, who was arraigned before a Makurdi chief magistrate’s court on Thursday, escaped mob action by angry women that wanted to lynch him over the death of 13-year-old Ochanya Ogbaje.
Mr. Andrew Ogbuja’s arraignment followed his alleged complicity in the serial rape of a minor, Ochanya Ogbaje, who died earlier this month from medical complications arising from the said act.
The court further heard that during Police investigation, Andrew Ogbuja was arrested for the offence while his son, who was a co-accused, fled and was still at large.
In his ruling, presiding Chief Magistrate Isaac Ajim took no plea for lack of jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
He ordered that the accused be remanded at the Makurdi Medium Prison and adjourned the matter to November 29 for further mention.
Meanwhile, the accused narrowly escaped mob action by angry women as he walked out of the court room, but for the quick intervention of security personnel, who smuggled him into a waiting Police van and whisked him away.
The women went berserk when they saw the accused making his way out of the court for a waiting Police van and surged forward to mob the accused but the Police prevented them. The placard-bearing women from different parts of the state, under the auspices of the National Council of Women Societies, NCWS, displayed “Ogbuja must die by hanging,”
“We demand Justice in this matter,” among others. Speaking to newsmen shortly after the court sitting, state President of NCWS, Chief Grace Okochi, said Benue women were pained by what happened to Ochanya and for what other women in the country were going through.
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