FIDA Kicks Against Accused Bail

Members of the Federation of International Women Lawyers, (FIDA) Rivers State chapter have appealed to Judges and Magistrates not to grant bail to Bashir Aligoni, who is in prison custody for an alleged rape of a minor, Glory Opara at gun point.
The Tide learnt that the act had led to the minor’s death over the weekend.
The accused, a 25-year old who resides at Rumuibekwe Housing Estate in Obio/Akpor Local Government  Area was said to have allegedly defiled the late Glory Opara, at a location at Ahoada Street in Rumuibekwe Housing Estate at gun point in February, and was currently being remanded in prison custody by an order of a Port Harcourt Chief Magistrate Court.
The Tide learnt that the 10-year old Glory Opara developed medical complications following the rape, which was said to have defied medical solutions, and caused her death last Saturday.
Speaking to newsmen at the FIDA office in Port Harcourt, yesterday, Barr. Fortune Adah Nnendah, who is handling the matter, expressed fear that the suspect might be released from custody through obnoxious ways and be repatriated to his home town in Northern part of the country to evade prosecution.
Adah called on the Judges and Magistrates in the state not to be influenced by any group or association to grant bail to the accused, and added that Justice must be done for the deceased.
According to her, “this case was not the first. There was a case in which an Hausa man also defiled a minor and was remanded but later he was admitted to bail and he ran away,” adding that the matter has been suspended since then.
The FIDA lawyer averred that the case at hand was no longer defilement but murder, and added that prior to her defilement, the deceased was healthy but was never herself after the incident until she died last Saturday.
“Please, let Nigerians rally around FIDA and let us give justice to the late innocent girl, she died as a result of the rape and its complications,” she said.
“She concealed the matter to her parents because the Mallam threatened that she will die if she told anybody. It was when the parents discovered that her body was swelling and becoming abnormal that she told them her ordeal”, she stated.

Akujobi Amadi