The Nigeria Police acknowledged Thursday their handling of the abduction of a 14-year-old girl, Ese Oruru, from Bayelsa State was flawed and was responsible for the delay in reuniting the teenager with her family.
The Zone 1 command of the force said it failed to follow up with the Sharia Commission in Kano, where the girl was taken to in 2015.
Miss. Oruru was taken without parental consent to Kano by Yunusa Dahiru, a regular customer of her mother, a food vendor.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of the zonal command, Shuaibu Gambo, said leaving the state Sharia commission to handle the case after the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, referred the matter to the command in August, complicated the situation.
“Indeed, the emir had sent a team of the Sharia commission members, Ese family and the abductor to our office in August [2015].
“And my predecessor, AIG Tambari Yabo, confirmed the receipt of the letter, as well as the team, from the monarch.
“But after meeting them, and realizing it was late, he directed that they come back the following morning.
“The following day, when the AIG didn’t see the Sharia commission officials and Ese family, he presumed that they had amicably settled the matter; because he is aware of the fact that Sharia commission had the ability to handle the case. But they had not done so.
“Giving the benefit of hindsight, it is evident that there was a failure of communication as the delegation never returned with the girl for onward transportation to her family. And no further report of complaint whatsoever was received in respect of the case again.
“On the part of the zone, when it did not hear from the delegation it innocently presumed that the case might have been resolved by the Sharia commission, which as you know, is also empowered to adopt alternative dispute resolution measures in cases of this nature,” he said.
Mr. Gambo stated further that the command traced Miss Oruru to the Sharia commission office on Monday after failure to get her in Tofa village.
The girl was reunited with her family on Wednesday after the intervention of police authorities in Abuja.
Mr. Gambo said the alleged abductor, Yunusa Yellow, was in police custody in Abuja and would face prosecution after investigation.
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