• Deborah
-The Daily Crucible
The Archibong family in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, appeared unrelenting in pursuit of justice for Don Davies, their 11-year-old son and victim of alleged sexual molestation in Uyo campus of the Deeper Life High School located in Idoro area of the state capital .
The mother of the boy, Deborah, has threatened to keep fighting the cause and updating Nigerians about it until justice is not only served in respect of the molestation, but also seen to have been manifestedly served.
She advised Nigerians to also be on the look out, saying should they fail to hear from her anymore about the case, it could only point to any of these directions : either she has been "silenced" or her phone number and handset taken away to deny her access to the social media.
In the last couple of days, the matter had witnessed twist and turn, and part of it was the resolve of Governor Emmanuel Udom - led Akwa Ibom state government to pull out of the investigation panel it had earlier constituted and at a time its members were close to concluding their assignment.
And with its hands off, the state government cleverly passed the burden to the police.
However, the boy's parents are now demanding N100m compensation for the torture of their son, who was said to have been subjected to harrowing experiences by his seniors in the school hostel.
The family are asking for the said compensation in a letter entitled "Gross child abuse, palpable molestation, serial bullying, criminal starvation, malicious oppression, and dubious maltreatment of Master Don-Davies Archibong (11 years old) by the Principal and Boarding Master, of Deeper Life Secondary School, Uyo."
It was sent through their solicitors, Eagle-Eyes Network Chambers, demanding that the school pay the N100m compensation within 21 days of grace.
The family also asked that Deeper Life High School, Idoro, Uyo, to publish an unreserved apology in two national dailies of the family's specification and any other two local newspapers circulated within Akwa Ibom State and its environs.
The solicitors' letter reads in part: “We are solicitors to Mr. and Mrs, Iniobong Archibong, resident in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and herein after referred to as our client. We have the firm explicit and unequivocal instructions to write to you on the above subject matter.
“It is indeed provocatively heartbroken, morally suicidal and religiously hypocritical that our client’s 11-year-old son was torrentially bombarded with physical and inhuman torture of debilitating dimension with resultant castration of his human person, dignity and childhood innocence.
“We respectfully demand the payment of N100,000,000 within 21 days of the receipt of this letter as compensation to assuage the dehumanising, horrendous torture and indignity our client’s son was subjected to and for his medical checkup and medication."
But in what look like a twist, Deborah on Saturday in a trending video, said what she desired for Don Davies is justice and not N100m compensation, explaining that she has not instructed any lawyer yet to push for a monetary compensation by the school over the alleged molestation of her son.
She, however, noted that she wouldn't know if asking for the said compensation formed part of lawyer's process of seeking justice for the alleged torture and molestation.
The Daily Crucible recalls that the Akwa Ibom state government in December 2020 did hands off investigation of child molestation case pertaining to Don Davis and moved him to the Sexual Assault Referral Center in the state for further medical investigation.
The office of the Commissioner for Education, Enobong Mbob, which has been treating the sexual abuse allegation on behalf of the state government hands off investigation on the advice the of the State's Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
The Attorney General, it was learnt, asked
the state to transfer the case to the police since the police were already on it too.
The Commissioner for Information in the state, Ini Ememobong, had however, appealed to the public to be patient “for a thorough investigation to be carried out by the Police and other relevant institutions on the matter.”
Ini assured that the government was committed to unearthing the truth in the sexual abuse allegation, vowing to “prosecute anybody found culpable of any wrongdoing.”
Mr Ememobong also revealed that the victim’s parents and other critical stakeholders gave their consent for the boy to be taken to the referral centre located within Immanuel General Hospital, Eket.
It was also gathered that the medical report from a private medical facility, St. Athanasius Hospital, in Uyo, on the victim remain largely silent on whether the boy was sexually abused as alleged or not.
According to Ememobong, aside the police, organisations such as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, Mirabelle Center, FIDA Akwa Ibom, Sexual and Gender-based Violence Response Unit of the Ministry of Justice, Akwa Ibom State, were also interested in the case.
The Daily Crucible reported earlier that the Deeper Life High School presented to the Investigation Panel, staffers and students of the school who were mentioned in connection with the alleged molestation of Don Davis, at its campus in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The Panel was constituted by the office of the Governor, Akwa Ibom state, Emmanuel Udom, after taking over the inquiry into the case from the school.
The school, however, has assured that justice will not only be served, but would also be manifested seen to have been served when the matter is concluded.
Mrs thelma Malaika, the Education Secretary of Deeper Life High School, disclosed this in December, ostensibly to update the concerned public about the matter because of the "potential impact of the issue," adding that no attempt would be made to cover up the matter.
According to her, the Police is interested in the case and has invited the school to say all it knows about the molestation.
Expectations from the public that the Akwa Ibom government was going to release a report of their investigation soon were however dashed, given the latest twist to the matter with the revealed transferring of the case to the Police.
This is coming after the Commissioner for Education, Enobong Mbobo, had said she has submitted the report and that the state government would make a statement about it soon.
The Deeper Life High School also primed the public before the Christmas to be on the lookout for a report of the investigation as was initially expected to be released by the Akwa Ibom State Government but now the people's expectations remained unmet for now.
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