#JusticeForUwa: Tragedy Of A Truncated Dream; Uwa Omozuwa

By Charles Opurum

When the story of the gruesome rape and subsequent murder of Miss Uwaila Omozuwa inside a Church broke, social media went into a meltdown and understandably so.

In the course of the outrage that followed, I realized there was a lot of speculation, and the line between fact and conjecture was blurred. As a professional Media personality and broadcast Journalist, I and my colleagues decided to get the full story. Here’s what we learned;

Uwa just gained admission into the University of Benin to study Microbiology before Covid-19 struck, as a direct consequence she had to stay home. However she was very scared of getting a carryover and so she decided to focus on her books, that’s why she was always studying in church. The area her family resides is called Ohovbe Quarters, Ikpoba Hill, and it’s located off the highway to the left just before NNPC depot if you’re coming from Ramat park.

Part of her father’s house is incomplete and most probably not so conducive for studying, her Dad has been retired for the past 10 years and money is hard to come by.

According to both her parents, she’s been studying at the same Church for the past 5 years. (Awon wetin she dey do for Church Geng please take note)

When we got there we heard conversations from some young men in her age bracket attesting to how quiet she was. They were talking amongst themselves and were referring to how they used to attend the same A1 lecture and how she’d be so quiet to the extent that nobody would know she was there.

At the family residence, we met the Pastor who initially refused to speak to us, instead directing us to the RCCG headquarters. However when the SUG bus arrived with members of the Students’ Union Government, they demanded he speak, and looking at their unsmiling faces, he complied.

The story is that Uwa knows where the key is kept, she goes there to take it, gains access to the church, and locks herself in and studies. When she’s done, she locks the door on her way out and drops the key at the designated place for it.

There’s a security man who resumes guard duty from 6 pm, an most times Uwa is gone by the time he arrives. The guard said he arrived and searched for the key as usual, but didn’t find it, the long and short of his story is that he discovered the doors were open and he found Uwa in a pool of her own blood and grey matter.

The bizarre parts to the story are as follows; according to her (Uwa) elder cousin, the Pastor initially denied that the incident happened in his Church, she says the Pastor told them that no such thing happened there. If her story is true, then I wonder why the Pastor would deny such a heinous crime. She also alleges that there were plans to burn down the Church in a bid to hide the evidence, I can neither confirm nor refute this.

Perhaps the most bizarre one concerns the Police. She says when they called the police, an officer told them that they didn’t have money to mobilize and that they (the family) should give them money before they can mobilize. When the Commissioner for Gender Affairs and Social Development Barrister Maria Edekor heard this she was surprised.

I was determined to get actively involved in this protest. It’s true I didn’t know her, I’m not from Benin, but I’m human and so I decided to show my solidarity by joining in no matter how inconvenient it might be.

After my shift, I dashed home to change clothes and took off to the venue. Thankfully we met the representative of the government in Barrister Maria Edekor, and she assured us that the Governor was personally interested in the case.

I thank my friends and colleagues who came out to show support. God bless you all

PS; As for some social media keypad warriors who bully people for not sharing their sentiments, you must be careful to not become that which you fight against. While some type, others are out there doing the dirty work.