National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons, NAPTIP, has rescued a 12 year old girl deceived into marriage in Benue state.
The NAPTIP Commander, Makurdi Zonal Command, Mrs Gloria Bai, disclosed this in a telephone chat with the Next Edition on Wednesday, in Makurdi.
It was gathered that the 12yr old girl was deceitfully married off to the 50 year old farmer by her family.
It was also said that when the girl was being taken to the supposed husband’s house, she thought she was being brought to town for schooling but on reaching the man’s house, she discovered she had been brought to him as his 3rd wife.
According to the Zonal Commander Mrs Gloria Iveren Bai, preliminary investigation reveals that she has been in the forced marriage for about 3 months and he has been abusing her.
READ ALSO: Abuse Of Drugs Like Paracetamol Affects Liver–Health Commissioner
She added that the girl had been rescued and currently in protective custody with NAPTIP, while they are making frantic efforts to get the man.
“Yes, we have rescued her. We got this report from a concerned citizen and contrary to reports that NAPTIP was “slow and unenthusiastic”, we swiftly went into action to search for the address where the girl was and when we got the address, we planned to go first thing in the morning so that we get both the man and the victim and by 6am, we were there.
“Unfortunately, the rain came in. We were able to rescue the girl but the man had gone out. We are on it and our officers are already on surveillance to get the man as soon as he is seen.
Mrs Bai said the agency will carry out an indepth investigation to know what the allegation is and how the girl came to be in his house.
She also said, “The girl will be taken to the hospital for medical examination and she will undergo proper counseling. We will see how she came to be in house and if he has contravened the law, we would charge him you court.”
