Ese Oruru, Abducted, Raped, Impregnated 13-year-old Now an Undergraduate

Matilda Omonaiye/

Ese Oruru, the 13-year-old girl who was abducted from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on August 12, 2015, by one Yunusa Dahiru and taken to Kano, where she was raped, forcibly Islamised and married off without her parents’ consent, is now a university undergraduate.

Former minister and gender activist, Oby Ezekwesili, shared the news today via her Twitter handle, @obyezeks.

Ezekwesili said after Ese was reunited with her parents, she continued supporting her education from JSS till now.

She wrote, “How many of you on this @Twitter remember Ese Oruru, young woman who was impregnated and abducted to Kano? I stayed on the matter beyond our collective success in getting her back to her parents. Ese had a baby girl, I supported her to continue with her JSS. She’s in University.

Ese’s story first caught the attention of the media when her parents pleaded with the public for her release. Even then, efforts to return the young teenager to her parents proved futile.

She was eventually rescued by the police and reunited with her parents. She was later found to be five months pregnant with her kidnapper’s child.

On March 8, 2016, Dahiru was arraigned before the Federal High Court on a five-count charge bordering on criminal abduction, illicit intercourse, sexual exploitation and unlawful carnal knowledge of a minor.

On March 21, 2020, the Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, convicted and sentenced Dahiru to seven years imprisonment.

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