Ihuoma Chiedozie, Enugu
The police in Enugu State on Wednesday said they are not aware of any case of rape during a live musical show organised by Afro hip hop star, Flavour, at Michael Okpara Square, in Enugu, on Saturday night.
Reports, which emanated from the social media, alleged that about 20 ladies were raped at the event, which attracted a very large turnout.
The Enugu State Police Command had earlier disclosed that an unnamed individual was arrested while attempting to rape an unidentified lady at the concert.
Spokesman for the Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, had also disclosed that the alleged mass rape reports were being investigated.
However, Amaraizu informed journalists in Enugu on Wednesday that the investigations have not revealed any case of rape during the concert.
According to him, despite the allegations of mass rape at the concert, the police had not received any report of rape in connection to the event.
The police spokesman doubted the veracity of the reports of the alleged mass rape.
Noting that policemen were deployed to provide security at the venue of the concert, Amaraizu described the reports of mass rape as ‘unfounded’.
“The newspaper report (of the mass rape), which is based on a twitter message is unfounded and we cannot operate on speculations as a law enforcement agency.
“Till now, nobody has come forward to report any case of sexual assault or molestation and rape to the Command.
“However, our doors in the Command, divisional headquarters and stations all over the state are open for anybody or group to make a report and we will take it up from there by doing further investigation.
“There is no reported case of rape (from the musical concert) anywhere in the Enugu State Police Command.
“We don’t have any incident arising from that event. Whoever that has any should come forward, and we will look at it,” he said.
Wondering how reports emerged that about 20 ladies were raped, Amaraizu said, “You even begin to ask yourself, those people that quoted number of the rape victims as 20, how did they do the counting? Does it mean they were following the rapists around and taking the data? Or the victims were assembled at one place and raped? Who are these victims?”
Punch
