The Untold Story Of How 13-Yr-Old Ochanya Died While Seeking Education

By Goodness Adaoyichie

This is the untold story of how 13-year-old Ochanya died while seeking education

Returning from the farm on a hot, sunny afternoon in May 2018, Rose Abah-Ogbanje received a call from the Federal Government Girls’ College that her daughter, Ochanya, was sick and in need of medical attention.

Although it was not the first time the Ogbanje family would receive such call, this was different. Ochanya Elizabeth Ogbanje, a 13-year-old junior student of the FGGC Gboko, Benue State, had spent days in the sick-bay without any improvement.

Tired but worried, Mrs Ogbanje dropped her farm implements outside the two-room apartment, informed her husband, Michael, and they made arrangements to get their daughter back home from the school.

Ochanya returned home weak, paralysed and could only mumble a few words.

From a tender age, all Ochanya longed for was to go to school; a basic right of a child according to Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nigeria is a signatory to this convention.

Michael Ogbanje, Ochanya’s Father Speaks On His Late Daughter

“Ochanya was a very brave child who wanted good education,” Ochanya’s father, a retired military personnel tells Pulse while sitting behind the grave of the 13-year-old in Ogene-Amejo village in Okpokwu local government area of Benue state.

However, there was a problem.

The only primary school in the community, a stone-throw from Ochanya’s family house, was shutdown in 2011 due to non-payment of teachers’ salaries, multiple sources say.

Rusty roofing sheets, cracked and broken down walls are all that remains of the Local Government Education Authority (L.G.E.A) Primary School, Ogene-Amejo, which was established in 1976.

The L.G.E.A Primary school, Ogene-Amejo, where Ochanya should have attended but for government’s failure.

Villagers say it’s common practice for children to relocate and attend schools in other communities or risk walking as much as 32 kilometres to and from school every day.

This falls short of Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, adopted by Nigerian government, which seeks to create a world where children all over can have access to quality education.

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Government’s failure to renovate the only primary school in Ochanya’s community forced the little girl out of her parents’ house to her aunt’s place in Ugboloko.

Untold Story Of How 13-Yr-Old Ochanya Died While Seeking An Education

Ochanya goes to school

When Ochanya moved into the Andrew Ogbuja family house at age seven in 2012, she felt an inch closer to fulfilling her dreams of getting quality education; a dream she could never have achieved living in the village.

Away from her parents’ close supervision, Ochanya’s life would change forever as the young girl walked into the arms of alleged sexual predators who began molesting her sexually at age eight.

Although Ochanya’s parents would send her school fees and provide food stuff all through their daughter’s stay in the Ogbuja house, the little girl’s journey to fulfilling her dream experienced a snag.

Victor, eldest of the five children of the Ogbuja family, allegedly began sexually assaulting her months after she moved in. The youngest of eleven children, Ochanya’s situation got worse with time.

“When I was eight years old, the

Untold Story Of How 13-Yr-Old Ochanya Died While Seeking An Education

“It started again and we went to Federal Medical Center Makurdi. This time, Ochanya could no longer walk and she had lost weight. We spent about two to five days at the hospital and we were discharged.

“When we came back home, Ochanya began to pass out waste from her body without control. We complained at the hospital but they could not stop it,” she recalls.

Ochanya’s medical condition was still unclear as the aunt, Felicia Ogbuja, allegedly hid results of eleven tests carried out on the girl from Mr Ogbanje and his wife.

Ill-health would keep Ochanya away from the classroom for months.

‘Four months in diapers’

Worried by the uncontrollable passage of body waste, Ochanya’s parents queried her to ascertain what went wrong.

“When Ochanya returned home, she was still urinating on her body and we continued using diapers on her. So, I told the mum to check and ask Ochanya when bathing her. It was at this point that Ochanya’s mother discovered that she had been sexually abused,” Mr Ogbanje says.

“Ochanya’s caregiver in Otukpo took her to the Benue State Teaching Hospital where they ran seventeen tests at N23,000. The tests further revealed that Ochanya was sexually molested through her vagina and anus,” he adds.

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Due to the absence of basic social amenities like good roads, hospital and electricity in Ochanya’s village, she was relocated from the Ogbuja house to Restorer of PathCare Foundation, Otukpo.

Caregiver and founder of the home, Evangelist Enuwa Margaret Soo, who took over Ochanya’s health issues, corroborated the results of these tests during our visit to the facility in Otada-Ehicho, Otukpo.

Evangelist Enewa Margaret Soo recalls Ochanya’s last days

“At the time Ochanya’s parents brought the girl in June 2018, she was very sick,” says the caregiver. “When we began to make our findings, we discovered that she was actually raped and the doctors confirmed that she was allegedly sexually abused through the vagina and the anus. We began to make efforts on how she can be treated,” she adds.

Angered by this discovery, Mr Ogbanje, a retired military personnel, sought to hear Mr Ogbuja’s side of the story.

While Mr Ogbuja, absolved himself of any wrongdoing, the lecturer at the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, threw his son under the bus.

“When we got to the [Ogbuja] house, he [Andrew] denied sleeping with Ochanya and asked that we go to the hospital and run any form of test. He also said he would swear an oath to prove his innocence.

Untold Story Of How 13-Yr-Old Ochanya Died While Seeking An Education

“He, however, said his son, Victor, was caught sleeping with Ochanya and he quarrelled the boy, they prayed and he asked them to go and play,” adds Mr Ogbanje.

Days later, Mr Ogbuja, accompanied by some elders would show up at Ochanya’s family house to seek forgiveness after initially denying any involvement in the matter. Ochanya’s parents refused his plea opting for legal prosecution of the matter.

Ochanya’s death

Recounting her last moments with Ochanya, Mrs Soo says prior to her death, the 13-year-old could neither walk, speak nor eat.

“When I came back from an outing on a certain Friday, one of the girls informed me that Ochanya said she was cold. I went in and discovered she was running a temperature,” she says.

“One or two days later, Ochanya could no longer make use of her legs. She was becoming lifeless from her waist downwards. Before then, she had challenges controlling her urine. Her mother told me about her condition. All through Ochanya’s days here [June to October 2018], she was on diapers.

“Before she died, she was in so much pains but she could not talk or eat. That girl went through so much. From age eight to thirteen, she was constantly in and out of the hospital,” Soo says.

Untold Story Of How 13-Yr-Old Ochanya Died While Seeking An Education

A cry for justice

All Ochanya’s parents want is justice for their daughter (Pulse)  All Ochanya’s parents want is justice for their daughter (Pulse)

Mr Ogbanje, who now tends to the farms to feed his family of eleven children, says the judiciary is the only hope of the family in getting justice for their late daughter.

”I have many children but Ochanya is the youngest. I can never forget her death. I have lost so much weight since she died because she is always on my mind. Whenever I see her grave, I become inconsolable. As I speak to you, I am seriously sick,” he says.

“Ochanya was such a brave child who wanted quality education. This was why she could defend herself the way she spoke fluently in court.

“I want to appreciate the government for how far the case has come because I have no power to tackle this matter. If it wasn’t for the government, I could have done nothing because he [Mr Ogbuja] is well connected in the society.

“My plea is that this case ends well because we’re afraid that if justice is perverted, he [Mr Ogbuja] will come and confront us,” he concludes.

Mrs Ogbanje says she’s been unable to eat or sleep since Ochanya’s death.

“Ochanya was a peaceful child who loved school; she was equally intelligent and did well in school before death took her away from us,” says her mother.

“Since Ochanya died and was buried here [pointing at her grave], I have never come to see her grave [breaks down in tears]. I am deeply hurt by her death. Since my daughter, Ochanya, died, I don’t sleep; I don’t feel hungry.

Rose Abah-Ogbanje has been heartbroken since the death of her daughter (Pulse)

“The government should have mercy on us and deliver judgement on this case involving Andrew Ogbuja. They should also get his wife and son,” Mrs Ogbanje says amidst tears.

culled from FRLP Report Women Story Project /Pulse published on February 1, 2019 but reproduced here in view of the renewed public interest in the story