Parents of 20-year-old Joan Egemba, have been thrown
into mourning after their daughter was stabbed and
strangled by some suspected rapists in the Ijebu Igbo area
of Ogun State.
Joan, who bagged a National Diploma in Accountancy from
the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, enrolled for the
2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the deceased left her home in the
Odo Eran, Sango-Ota area around 12pm on Thursday, March
3, for the National Open University of Nigeria centre in Awa
Ijebu, where she was posted to sit for the exam the
following day.
It was learnt that on Thursday evening, she was abducted
at the Ijebu Oru Junction – a few distance away from the
centre – by persons suspected to be rapists.
Her corpse was said to be found in a bush at the back of a
secondary school in Ijebu Igbo with cuts in her thighs.
Our correspondent was told that the briefs that Egemba
wore were torn, suggesting that her assailants were
rapists.
Her father, Emmanuel Egemba, said she had called him on
the telephone on getting to the centre, informing him that
the security guard attached to the centre turned down her
request to pass the night on the premises.
He said, “On that Thursday, she left home around 12.30pm,
but the bus she boarded at Sango to the centre left around
2pm. She called at 5.30pm that she had arrived there, but
the security man at the centre did not open the gate for
her and others to pass the night on the premises. I told her
to find a place in the area till the following day when she
would sit for the exam.
“Around 7pm, I called her again and she said the security
man had opened the gate for them. One hour after, I called
again but she did not pick her calls. She was supposed to
sit for the exam at 6.30am on Friday. I called her around
12pm on Friday, her phone was switched off. As early as
4am on Saturday, I went to the centre to verify whether
she sat for the exam or not. I met the security man and he
directed me to the JAMB office in Abeokuta. He denied
that he allowed my daughter into the school compound to
pass the night.
“It was a woman that told us that a girl was kidnapped at
Oru Junction and taken towards Ijebu Igbo. We later
discovered her corpse on Wednesday, March 9. If the
candidates were allowed to sleep inside the school, this
incident would not have happened.”
Emmanuel, a retired Assistant Superintendent of Nigerian
Customs, said the loss of his daughter was hard to bear,
but the family had taken solace in God.
“I learnt it was rapists that killed her. Her body was not
mutilated, but she had cuts in the mouth and thighs. Her
clothes and briefs were torn and she had bruises in the
back.
“We prayed before she left home on that day. While we
were praying this morning (Monday) I looked at where she
used to sit and it was vacant,” he said.
He stated that the deceased’s mother, Mrs. Chimemo
Egemba, was too distraught and could not speak
withPUNCH Metro.
A neigbour, who identified himself only as Wale, said the
Divisional Police Officer in Awa Ijebu did not act promptly
when the case was reported and called for comprehensive
investigation to unravel Joan’s killers.
He said, “I followed Emmanuel to the police station on
Wednesday, four days after he reported the case, and I
asked the DPO if he had visited the school. He said no. He
should have gone to the centre instantly to investigate. He
is not fit to be a policeman.
“It was at a building beside the NOUN centre that we got
the information that the girl was abducted. We traced her
to Ijebu Igbo with her picture. At a motor park there, we
showed the picture to a man who told us her corpse was
dumped in a bush at the back of a school.
“I think she struggled with her abductors while they
attempted To Molest her. I think they strangled her when
they did not succeed in raping her. We want those that
perpetrate this act to be fished out and brought to book.”
Wale said a police officer at the Ijebu Igbo division told
him that they were overwhelmed by the spate of crime in
the community, adding that many policemen had
influenced their transfers from Ijebu Igbo to other stations.
The Ogun State Police spokesperson, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi,
said the command was working with its Information and
Communication Technology experts to track down the
suspects.
He said, “We are working on the information we have to get
the culprits.
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