A State High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has struck out the case against a National Youth Service (NYSC) corps member accused of killing a man in the state.
Chidinma Odume, a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu, was standing trial for allegedly hacking Akwaowo Japheth to death on January 10, 2021.
In her confessional statement to the police, Ms Odume claimed that the late Japheth threatened to kill her upon her refusal to oblige his request to remove her clothes so he could have sex with her.
In his ruling on January 1, 2022, the judge, Bassey Nkanang, struck out the case and discharged the accused person following the Nolle Prosequi entered on January 10 by the state attorney general.
Justice Nkanang said the ruling was pursuant to section 211 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Section 71 (1) of the Criminal Code Procedure Law of Akwa Ibom State.
“This case shall be and is hereby struck out and the accused person accordingly discharged,” the judge ruled.
Nolle Prosequi is a formal notice of discontinuation of the prosecution without a conviction.
Ms Odume was posted to Uyo, in 2020 for her mandatory one-year NYSC programme.
The Background Story
So a lady identified as Ruth Bessong Essien on Twitter got hold of Chidinma’s arrest on blogs and noticed some missing puzzles. She decided to go on a mission of unravelling the mystery behind the incident.
Here is her story:
On the 10 of January 2021, I came across the story of a corp member deployed to Akwaibom to have allegedly killed her boyfriend!!!! I read several versions of this story, Deep down in my heart, I knew there could be more to this story.
Chidinma maintained he wasn’t her boyfriend, She was lured and he tried to kill her.
As someone who is not ignorant of Rape, I have come to the conclusion that Rape cases 80% of the time do not make sense to the next person listening to your ordeal.
So I started looking for clues as to how to unravel the mystery behind this story, I read several comments on various blogs, Until I saw Laurels Scott’s announcement asking people to watch her space at a certain time as she had something to say about the above case!!!
I kept waiting and I listened to her experience with the same guy and I knew this was the clue I was looking for. We linked up, shared experiences and a one year journey started.
We started looking for trails, visiting locations, reaching out to victims, several police station trips
What some of these girls had to go through.
Some days were super stressful, some days it felt as though we weren’t even making sense to the police but they knew their job better and we hoped for the best.
We kept the faith, we kept trusting God and pushing this cause.
we visited from the commissioner of police to the deputy, to the PPRO to every office trying to establish this was indeed a case of self-defence.
Getting other victims to speak up was a different journey entirely Sometimes we broke down and just cried from hearing what some of these victims went through and were afraid to speak up
This gist is endless sha!!
The beautiful part is this!!
Here am I waking up one year later
To the court ruling in Our victory.
This is not just for Odume Chidinma, but for everyone who has been a victim of Rape and brutality.
While some people still feel differently about the ruling of the court, I would like to say the Good people of Akwa Ibom would not do otherwise if it were the other way round.
While we send our condolences to the Akwaowo Japheths family,
Thanks to Everyone who didn’t get tired of my endless questioning.
Thank you @NigerianPolice
Akwa Ibom, my confidence has been moved a step further in your abilities.
Everyone still struggling to heal, regain their image from RAPE we got you, you can lean on us. You’re not alone
