Blessing specially commended the Governor for the establishment of the office of the PDCRC upon which the intervention was taking place which would allow justice to prevail in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”I have promised to make myself available whenever my attention is needed in the process of getting justice for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”Once again, I appreciate and commend the effort of the Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, for his swift response in order for me to get justice. I so much appreciate him and I will forever be grateful”, Blessing said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier while briefing the newsmen, Barr. Abdullahi Zakari, the Director General of PDCRC, said the briefing was an update on the previous press conference on March 17, 2021, when the Commission drew public attention to Blessing’s case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”We drew public attention to the fact that whatever the cultural or traditional colouration about the incident, is not our concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”But our concern is the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Blessing and her subsequent exposure to all manner of ridicule and inhumanity which violated her human rights including right to dignity and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”Our message is very clear that it is no longer business as usual in Kogi State for persons to take laws into their hands or to be at the forefront of doing things that would violate the rights of any Kogi resident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”What happened in Ogugu on that fateful day which went viral was with all intent and purpose a violation of Blessing Abbah’s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”As an organization that is responsible for promotion and protection as well as enforcement of fundamental human rights, we will go all out to ensure that justice is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”We are not doing it alone but in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs and FIDA to ensure that we work together and get justice for Blessing by bringing those perpetrators behind her ordeal to book wherever they may be”, Zakari reiterated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DG explained that the Commission had filed a formal petition with the police where some persons’ were listed as suspects in that infractions on Blessings’ rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He assured that they were convinced that the police would do the needful to ensure that those persons involved, pay dearly for their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”We are also drawing the attention of the public to the fact that Blessing was not here during the last press briefing but today she has come from Lagos where she had treatment, to support the petition we wrote on her behalf and be part of today’s press briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”She came to make statement to the police and to express her determination to ensuring that those behind her ordeal pay dearly for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”She also came to specifically thanked His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, for his swift response and for continuing to work with her to see that she is truly rehabilitated, catered for, and encouraged”, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zakari further stressed that the PDCRC remained the State Government’s Agency responsible for not only ensuring the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights of Kogi residents, but would also ensure that the less privileged in the state, have access to justice and legal aid free of charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

”This is an indication that the right of every resident of Kogi State is sacrosanct, as the Commission has statutory powers to enforce same”, Zakari restated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her remarks, the Lawyer Attached to the Ministry of Women Affairs, Barr. Tina Ekele, said the Ministry was working in collaboration with PDCRC and FIDA to get justice for Blessing, and to protect any citizen whose rights might have been infringed upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also speaking, the Chairperson of the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in Kogi,, Barr. Lilian Okolo, reaffirmed the commitment of women lawyers to ensure the culprits were brought to book to serve as deterent to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

END<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stephen Adeleye Blessing Abbah, a woman subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment in Kogi, has commended the State Governor, Alh. Yahaya Bello for his swift response and intervention in coming to her aid. NAN reports that Blessing Abbah, a widow was ridiculed, molested and exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment in a video that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,200],"tags":[1723,165,46,447],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4589,"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585\/revisions\/4589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onwardnews24.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}