TRAGEDY IN BAYELSA: STEPDAUGHTER ALLEGEDLY ABUSED BY STEPFATHER IN OBUNAGHA COMMUNITY, YENAGOA LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

THE PERPETRATOR

What happened in Obunagha community in Bayelsa State, has left people boiling with so much anger. The State has faced countless cases of sexual abuse over the years, but this one hit differently. How can such abomination keep happening while everyone stays silent?

At the center of it all is a 12-year-old girl, allegedly abused by her own stepfather, a child who should have been safe in her own home and under the care of the very people meant to protect her.

The forty year old man, said to be a bricklayer known in the community, was apprehended by angry residents after the girl was rushed to the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital in Okolobiri for urgent medical attention.

According to people close to the situation, the girl had been in serious pain before her mother raised an alarm. What makes the situation even more painful is that it wasn’t the first time, some said the abuse had happened before, but like many victims, the child kept quiet. It wasn’t until the pain became too much that her mother finally spoke out.

Imagine being a child and having to live with something so traumatic, imagine suffering in silence, imagine being afraid to speak and afraid to be blamed. In a society like ours, God forbid they blame the perpetrator.

The girl’s father, who asked that his name be withheld, confirmed that his daughter is currently under intensive medical care. He described the incident as heartbreaking and said the family is considering legal action.

Beyond this one case, something much bigger is happening, youth leaders and child protection organisations in Bayelsa are raising the alarm over a disturbing rise in abuse cases involving young girls. In many of these cases, the perpetrators are not strangers, they’re family members, neighbors, they’re literally people the children trust. This is where the conversation becomes very necessary, because how many children are suffering quietly right now? how many are scared to speak? how many are being told to keep it in the family? how many are being blamed instead of protected?

This should actually be a wake-up call, a reminder that silence protects abusers, a reminder that turning a blind eye makes you an accomplice or even an abuser, a reminder that children need more than love; they need safety. They need you to be able to listen and not accuse them of trying to seduce or entice these perpetrators.

Let this be a mirror for anyone who thinks differently; if a child whose mind is still developing; whose frontal lobe hasn’t even fully formed, entices you in any way, you don’t just need help, you need serious intervention. Children are meant to be nurtured, protected and allowed to grow without fear and anyone who violates that trust is not just breaking the law, they are breaking lives. No excuse, no justification, no silence from the community should ever protect someone like that. It’s on all of us to recognize the danger and speak up because our children deserve nothing less.