#JusticeForUwa: Endless wait for Justice as Uwaila Omozuwa joins growing list of Nigerians brutally murdered

While families of victims of extrajudicial killings across Nigeria continue to wait endlessly for justice that may not come soon, a 22-year-old lady Vera Uwaila Omozuwa was brutally raped and attacked by unknown hoodlums in Benin, Edo State, during the week.

Omozuwa, a 100 Level student of Microbiology at the University of Benin, Edo State, was reportedly attacked while she was reading inside a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Edo Province 10, Ikpoba Hill, Benin, by yet-to-be-identified hoodlums who made their way into the building.

After raping her, the unknown hoodlums struck her head with a fire extinguisher and left her for dead. She reportedly died a few days after she was rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital where she had been in a coma.

The Public Relations Officer of the Edo State Police Command, Chidi Nwabuzor, who confirmed the incident to Neusroom, told our correspondent in a telephone conversation that the Ikpoba Hill Police division is presently investigating the case.

Omozuwa’s death marked one of the many cases of brutal killings perpetrated by security operatives and unknown assailants in the last one month. It also brings to fore the ineffectiveness of Nigerian law enforcement agencies and judicial system to investigate and bring perpetrators of the heinous acts to book, especially the killings by men in uniform.

The endless wait for justice has continued to prolong the ordeal of the family.

Timeline of reported killings from April to May 2020

On Tuesday May 26, a 16-year-old girl, Tina Ezekwe, was shot by a policeman trying to arrest a bus driver for violating the overnight curfew in the Iyana Oworo area of Lagos.

Tina died on Thursday, four days after she was shot. Her death sparked outrage on Twitter on Friday, as many Nigerians tweeting with the hashtag #JusticeforTina demanded justice for the slain girl and prosecution of the policeman who fired the shot.

On Tuesday May 12, Bala Rijin, a 20-year-old 300-level student of history and international studies, of the University of Jos was shot dead by one of the soldiers attached to Operation Safe Haven enforcing lockdown orders in Plateau State.

Leo Micah, a 21-year-old man, was abducted in Imo State about four weeks ago by some men in military uniforms and taken to Anambra where he was killed. His killers were later identified as a soldier and another ex-soldier who was dismissed from service in 2018.

Micha’s dead body was recovered a few days later in a bush in Anambra.

The deceased hands were cuffed behind him while a heavy stone used by the suspects to kill him was found near his decaying body.

A female police officer, Sergeant Lovender Elekwachi, also became a victim of extrajudicial killings sweeping across the country, on Thursday April 23, when she was shot dead by one of her colleagues Sergeant Bitrus Osaiah attached to the Rivers State Task Force on Decongestion. Bitrus and other members of the task force were enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown order when he fired a shot that hit Lovender at her duty post where she was managing traffic.

Joseph Pessu was the first victim of Nigerians killed by security operatives enforcing lockdown orders. He was shot dead in Warri, Delta State on Thursday April 2, by a soldier for allegedly flouting the order restricting movements in the state.

Pessu is one of the 12 people who the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said were killed between March and April by security operatives enforcing lockdown orders.

Reacting to the death of Omozuwa’s death, several outraged Nigerians have taken to social media, Nollwood actress Adesua Etomi-Wellington, tweeted: “I can’t post the pictures I’ve seen of Uwa. She went to church to study. She was 22. She was brutally raped and beaten. The culprits are on the run. Uwa could have been any of us.”

Singer Osayamwen Nosa Donald aka Djinee who also condemned Omozuwa’s death tweeted: “Uwa’s story breaks me. We all have to admit that our parents have failed woefully in the raising of the male child. Concentrating too much on the conduct of the female child when it’s actually the males who have the higher propensity to do evil!

“Today it is Uwa. Yesterday it was someone else. Tomorrow it might be someone we know. A friend who was gangraped in the past is living with HIV today. There is no way Uwa’s sad incident won’t bring up the fact that our women are an endangered gender. You can’t isolate crime from culture.”

Despite the growing internet outrage, the cases of past victims, like Kolade Johnson murdered by police officers in Lagos in March 2019, have shown that the ordeals of the families of Leo, Rinji, Lovender, Tina and now Omozuwa may last a lot longer as justice may not come soon as they envisaged.